41. Chapter 41

Maya puts the key in the door for the first time in two weeks. She sighs as it unlocks. She’s not sure what she’s going to find once she enters the apartment. Maya just hopes it’s not total chaos. She knows that sometimes when Carina starts on a project, whether it be a food project or something else, a mess usually ensues. It’s the passion that Carina has that causes creation and foregoes logical cleanliness thoughts. She just hopes that whatever Carina has been up to in the last two weeks has been cleaned up properly. She doesn’t think her soon to be wife is a slob by any means, it’s just that neatness isn’t always on her radar.

She pushes the door open and doesn’t see anything. Any messes, any dirty dishes, any scrapes of paper on the coffee table or the couch or the dining room table. Maybe Maya is too stuck up in her organization and cleanliness that she’s underestimated Carina. And she should know very well by now not to underestimate the Italian.

In seeing nothing, she also doesn’t see Carina. Maya didn’t get off of work on time, but she still assumed that Carina would be home. Maybe there was an emergency at the hospital, but she knows Carina isn’t going back to work for another week. Could it be that Carina went to visit with someone? Amelia or Teddy or someone else?

But then she hears it. A shuffle from the bedroom. The blonde sets her backpack down on the couch as she walks through the apartment towards their room. The door is open just a crack so Maya rests a hand on it and pushes it open.

“Oh.” She quirks an eyebrow at the sight of Carina laying in bed in just a robe.

“Finally.” Carina holds out her arms. “Where have you been?”

Maya takes a deep breath, thinking back on the call they had this morning. A house fire. “Sorry I’m late. We had a call that went- long.” Maya shakes the thoughts of the morning away and focuses on her fiancée. “You don’t know how good it is to see you in that bed.”

Carina hums. “Just as good to have you in this bed, I would imagine.” She reaches out her hand and opens and closes her fist.

Maya grins and crosses the threshold and moves towards the bed. She sits at Carina’s hip and pulls her shoes from her feet. She turns to Carina, pulling a leg up onto the bed, reaching out and pinching the lapel of her robe between her thumb and index finger, running down from the shoulder to where it’s tied with a sash. “Did you have some sort of plan for this morning that I’ve ruined?”

There’s a dismissive shake of Carina’s head. “You haven’t ruined anything. I just- we just had to wait a little longer.”

“Is that so?”

Carina nods and smirks. “Vieni qua.” She leans forward, wrapping an arm around Maya and pressing her lips to her cheek. They are there but a moment before Carina moves them to Maya’s lips, sighing in satisfaction, to have Maya like that again.

Sure, they saw each other yesterday but that was at the fire station; to have her here, them together, in their apartment, in their bedroom, in their bed, in their safe sacred place. Nothing is better than that.

Maya hums, her hand slipping inside Carina’s robe, finding her hip. “You’re-“ Carina distracts her with kiss and she forgets what she wants to say. “You’re at-“ Maya pulls herself away. “You’re at an unfair advantage.”

Carina quirks an eyebrow. “What are you going to do about it?” She challenges.

Maya laughs, giving her hip a squeeze before getting up. The stands next to the bed and pops the button on her jeans before slipping them down her legs. Her shirt comes off next. She turns, her back to Carina. “Will you?” Maya points over her shoulder at the bra hooks.

“Certainly.” Carina whispers, her eyes raking over Maya’s skin. She reaches up with one hand and unhooks Maya’s bra. Her hands than move to Maya’s shoulders slipping the straps down her arms. Pressing a kiss to Maya’s shoulder before sitting back and just watching as Maya discards the item on the floor. Next, with Maya’s back to her fiancée, she pulls her underwear down her legs. She finally turns around, a little self-conscious now. She tries to remind herself that it’s just Carina and they’ve seen each other naked plenty of times. Still, this is the first time in a long time.

And Carina can see the apprehension on Maya’s face. “You’re as beautiful as ever, bambina.” She tells Maya softly, eyes roaming up and down in appreciation.

“You’re as smooth talking as ever.” Maya grins, relaxing a bit. She reaches out and tugs at the sash around Carina’s waist, pulling it loose so the robe can slip open. “Let’s take this off, huh?”

Carina chews on her lip, trying to look as sexy as possible with one leg straight out in front of her and the other bent up at the knee. “Si.” She leans forward, shrugging the robe from her shoulders until it pools around her waist.

Maya grabs the item and pulls it away from Carina and tosses it on the end of the bed. She smirks a little before climbing onto the bed. Not, just climbing onto the bed but climbing right into Carina’s lap and sitting down. She finds each of Carina’s hands, holding them, lifting them so they are in between their torsos and then tracing her hands up Carina’s arms, to her shoulders. Her thumbs brush across Carina’s collarbones. She just can’t believe how lucky she is to get to marry this amazing woman.

And Carina almost can’t believe how good it feels to have Maya’s hands on her body again. “Ah, Maya, your hands feel amazing. There’s only so many times I can masturbate and get myself off thinking of you, looking at that photo of you, before I need the real thing.”

Maya stops her appreciation of Carina, sitting back on her haunches. “How many times?” Curiosity gets the better of her.

Carina groans. “Do you have to know right now?”

Maya shakes her head, knowing Carina is frustrated with the question, returning to her lover. She can still feel the rush of the call they had this morning, the adrenaline coursing through her veins. It only adds to what is happening right now. She leans in, pressing a kiss to Carina’s cheek before moving to her ear and sucking the lobe into her mouth. She then scrapes her teeth along Carina’s neck down from her ear to her shoulder, wrapping her lips there and sucking. “Just in the last two weeks?” She sits up again, not able to move past it.

Carina chuckles this time. She shouldn’t have said anything knowing Maya, knowing that she would need to know more. “Si. The last two weeks. And not at first. Not the first few days. I mostly just slept and tried to readjust. But after that.”

“Like, everyday?” Maya asks.

Carina runs her hands up Maya’s thighs, stroking over her hips, squeezing at her waist. “This is such a better view. A greater turn on. You, sitting here, on top of me naked.” She thinks maybe that will get Maya to stop thinking. She runs her hands up Maya’s sides and Maya squirms. It always tickles when Carina does that.

“Everyday?”

“Some days, bellisima.” Carina sits up, wrapping her arms up around Maya’s back, bringing them together chest to chest. “What about you?”

“Oh.”

Carina strokes her hands softly over Maya’s back and then reaches down, grabbing Maya’s ass in each hand, pulling Maya impossibly close.

Maya tips her head back as her center presses against Carina, she arches her back, grinding against Carina.

“That’s it, bambina. Ride me. Just like that.” Carina holds onto Maya’s lower back, holding her upright as Maya rocks against her. “When was the last time you came?”

Maya moans. “Before you-“ She feels embarrassingly close, embarrassingly sensitive, embarrassingly stimulated. “-left.” She knows she just needs a little push. “Touch me.”

Carina bites her lip. “Okay, bella.” She moves her right hand around, slipping it between their bodies, finding Maya’s clit, stroking over it a few times. “How’s that?”

Maya grinds into Carina’s touch. “Perfetto.” She moans between ragged breaths. “Just- harder.”

Carina chuckles and presses her two fingers harder against Maya’s clit, running a slow circle around it before picking up speed.

“Ahhhh.” Maya moans. “Fuuuuuck.” She arches her back further as her orgasm hits. Her muscles fail her as she starts to come down from her high, and Carina can’t hold her up with one hand. Maya falls backwards onto the mattress between Carina’s legs, panting and out of breath.

Carina watches Maya for a moment, her beauty in ecstasy. “Bene?”

“Very.” It’s all Maya is able to say between breathes.

“Eccellente.”

“Yes, you are.” Maya pushes herself up onto her elbows, feeling a little weak. “Every time. Every time we do this after some time off, I come so fast. Don’t need any build up.”

“You want to know why?” Carina quirks an eyebrow.

Maya nods eagerly.

Carina chuckles at how adorable Maya is. “It’s like with an addict. If you are having sex everyday you build up almost a tolerance. It takes more to get off, to get to that high. You take a break for a while and come back to it, that tolerance is gone. Real easy to get off then.” She wiggles her eyebrows at Maya.

“That makes sense.” Maya says as her breathing is more normal. She pushes herself up to a seated position and the backs away from Carina a little, sticking to her as she goes.

“You made a mess, bella.” Carina laughs, looking down at her lower abdomen.

“I don’t think you should complain.” Maya gets to her knees.

“Oh, I’m not complaining.”

“Good.” Maya grabs Carina’s face in her hands, kissing her hard. “What-“ She says between hungry kisses. “-do you want?”

“You, bambina.” Carina moans. “Just you.” She wraps her arms around Maya as Maya’s lips work their magic on her neck and then chest, moaning when Maya takes a nipple into her mouth. Carina hands go to the back of Maya’s head, tangling her fingers in her blonde locks, pulling at her hair.

Maya wants to move lower but can’t with the way she is kneeling. So, she pulls her lips from Carina’s breast with a wet pop and looks up to see Carina looking down at her with half closed eyes, full of desire.

“Maya.” She moans, needing more, needing for Maya to not stop and pause on anything. “Just fuck me like this.” She begs.

Any plan that Maya had is thrown out the window. She pecks at Carina’s lips quickly, her right hand slipping down Carina’s stomach, finding extremely wet folds. “You’re so wet, my love.”

Carina tips her head back, moaning as Maya’s fingers slip through her.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you missed me.” Maya throws in a joke.

Carina snaps her head up and narrows her eyes at Maya. “No teasing.”

Maya chuckles. “Sorry.” She smirks. She circles around Carina’s entrance once as a warning and then thrusts two fingers inside her.

The Italian’s head tips back against the headboard, moaning in pleasure as Maya starts a gentle rhythm. What starts out as gentle becomes quicker, and less organized as Carina starts rocking into those talented fingers of Maya’s. Her hands grab at Maya’s back, trying to find something to hold onto as Maya works her extremely close to that high she so craves.

“Maya.” She pants.

“Yeah?” She studies Carina’s face, trying to see what she needs without Carina having to say it. “Look at me.”

Carina’s eyes pop open to see Maya staring back at her with nothing but love and passion and caring. She tips her head forward until she can rest her forehead against Maya. It’s a bit shaky but it works.

Maya flicks her thumb across Carina’s clit a couple of times and Carina unravels, uncoils underneath her. Her walls clenches around Maya’s fingers, her muscles in her whole body tense, the fingernails on Carina’s hands digging into her back.

“Dio mio.” Carina groans and relaxes, panting as her orgasm washes through her entire body.

Maya smiles and removes her forehead from Carina, pressing a kiss to her cheek as she tries to catch her breath. When she pulls her fingers from Carina, she feels Carina shudder as they go. Maya wipes them on her own stomach and then wraps Carina in her arms. “I fucking love you so much. So much. And I’ve missed you just as much. I feel like words don’t do either of those things justice.” She peppers Carina’s face with feather light kisses.

Carina has her eyes close in ecstasy as she tries to calm her breathing and her heart rate. Her right hand running up the back of Maya’s spine, tangling in her hair, pulling Maya’s head to her shoulder, resting her chin against Maya’s shoulder. This is it, right here, the feeling that she wants to last forever. Wrapped up in each other arms, happy, satisfied. Sexually, but just in general. Feeling wanted and wanting someone else. Being loved. Together. On the same page. To feel loved and protected and cherished and taken care of. Valued. Valid. That’s it. Carina knows now in life that’s ultimately what you want with someone.

“Ti amo, Maya. I never knew a love like this existed or was possible until we-“ She sighs.

“What? Until we what?” Maya wiggles out of Carina’s grasp. She looks into those rich brown eyes and brushes Carina’s hair away from her face. “What my gorgeous girl?”

Carina rolls her eyes playfully. “I never thought, I never could have imagined finding something like this. I feel like what we have is special.”

“It is special. One time, this really really smart woman told me that what we have is fantastico because it’s ours.”

Carina sighs and closes her eyes. “Just ours.”

“I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you.” Maya connects her lips with Carina’s for a chaste kiss.

After a moment, Carina takes a deep breath, leaning back against the headboard. “What’s on the calendar for today?”

Maya hums and goes over the checklist in her head. “Well, we have to meet Vic and Travis down at the restaurant at four. I wanted to get a quick nap in before that.” They settle into lying in bed together, enjoying in that post-coital bliss

“Anything else?”

The blonde shakes her head. “No. I wanted time to spend with you. So, everything else I pushed until tomorrow. Just today, tomorrow and then the next day we are getting married. I can’t believe it.”

“Believe it, bella. It’s happening.” Carina thinks over everything. Typically, Maya would be worrying about every little detail right now. And Carina knows that Maya still is, most likely. But right now, they are able to just lie in bed together and it really is a beautiful thing.

Maya lays with her head on Carina’s stomach. She picks at the sheet that is draped over their legs as Carina runs her fingers through Maya’s hair. But her picking stops, hand stilled, resting against Carina’s thigh.

Carina notices this after a moment. “What are you thinking about?”

Maya looks up, giving Carina a tight-lipped smile. She heaves a huge sigh. “There was a call this morning. That’s why I was late.”

Carina figured as much; Maya isn’t late coming home unless they are still out on a call. “What happened?” She hopes no one died.

“It was a house fire. Seven people were trapped. A whole family. Twenty-three was there already. I had my crew start on the search as soon as I found out the situation. They thought it was six people only, but it turned out to be seven.” Maya shakes her head trying to remember if that was right. She’ll have to go over everyone’s account again anyway, she knows. It’s a small detail but an important one. She knows she’s going to have to get a firm number on how many people they actually pulled from the house.

“I called for another ambulance. The response time was long though. McCallister was at the scene, so I knew I had extra eyes on me and every decision I made.”

“I’m sure you made all the correct choices.” Carina encourages.

Maya scoffs.

“Cosa?”

Maya scoots up the bed and rest her chin on Carina’s shoulder so she can see her reaction while she tells the rest of the story that she knows is likely to have ramifications.

“The grandma, abuelita, came out and she said there was a little boy still in the house. That it was the neighbor’s kid. Andy ran back in to find him. She and Sullivan found him in a closet. Covered in burns.”

“Oh, dio mio.”

“Yeah. He was in bad shape when they got him outside. I called for another aid car but there weren’t any available right away. The next one was going to be at least eight minutes.” Maya sucks her bottom lip into her mouth, chewing on it as she rethinks about everything that happened. “Can I run into the station tomorrow morning? I promise I’ll be quick. I know there’s a lot to do yet. I just want to get the report done. I need to get everyone’s account. It’s really important actually. And since I’m taking a few days off after the wedding-“

“Of course, bella. Do what you have to. As long as it doesn’t interfere with anything involving the wedding.”

“Thanks.” Maya leans up for a quick kiss. She takes a deep breath afterwards. “The protocol is to wait for the aid car.”

“But?” Carina knows there’s more to it than that.

“That boy didn’t have eight minutes to wait.”

“Oh, povero bambino.” Carina pouts knowing this story could very well take a tragic turn.

“McCallister ordered me to wait. But I couldn’t do that and let that child die. So, I told him we would transport the boy on the engine. He told me that would open the department up to liability- like he didn’t think I knew that. I knew that.” Maya breaths out a slow breath and grimaces. “So, we brought him to the hospital on fire engine in defiance of the Chief’s orders.”

“Is the boy- did he-“

Maya shrugs. “Andy is supposed to get the update at some point. This happened only like two or three hours ago.”

Carina heaves a heavy sigh. She rubs her hand over Maya’s back, trying to comfort them both as they thinks about everything. “So, if he ordered you-“

“I broke protocol to get that boy to the hospital. He better survive to make it all worth it because the Chief is not happy with me. Let’s just say that for now.”

“What can he do?”

Maya shakes her head, wrapping her arm around Carina, cuddling closer to her. “I’m not sure. Could be nothing. Could be- you know they’ve, he’s- I’m being watched like a hawk. They are looking for anything that they can use against me. This is definitely something that can be used against me.”

“You did the right thing.” Carina tells her. She knows Maya needs to hear it.

“I hope so.” She sighs. “I just hope that this isn’t the end.”

“They can’t fire you for this.” Carina’s voice raises at the idea of Maya being fired from the fire department.

“There will be an investigation. Other than that, I don’t know.” She rubs her cheek against Carina’s shoulder. “I wanted to- I needed to tell you. But I don’t want to talk about it again. I want to focus on you and us and getting married.”

“Okay.” Carina kisses the top of Maya’s head. “I love you, bambina.”

“Thanks.” Maya feels like garbage now. “I love you.”

“How about I go get us something to eat? I’ll come right back.”

“Like out?”

Carina shakes her head. “No. Just in the kitchen.”

“Okay.” She didn’t want Carina to leave the apartment right now so she’s glad that she not going anywhere.

She slips out from under Maya and tip toes to the kitchen, feeling Maya’s eyes on her as she goes.

Maya sneaks off to the bathroom, while Carina is getting food.

The Italian comes back in the room a few minutes later. A plate in one hand with two pieces of toast with peanut butter on them. A bowl in the other hand with strawberries. “Take this.” Carina rotates so her right elbow is pointed at Maya. “Fast. It’s cold.”

Maya pulls the can of whipped cream from between Carina’s elbow and her side. “What’s this for?”

“The strawberries.” Carina wiggles her eyebrows, letting Maya know that it’s for more than just the strawberries.

“I didn’t think we would still have fresh fruit.” Maya would have imagined Carina ate all the fruit that she had bought for the apartment in the last two weeks.

Carina sets the bowl of strawberries on the bedside table. “I ordered more.” She shrugs. “And had them delivered. Don’t judge me.”

Maya raises an eyebrow as Carina sits on the bed facing her. “Why would I judge you for that?”

Carina holds a piece of peanut butter toast out to Maya. Maya leans in and takes a bite. “Cuz it’s lazy and not economically or very environmentally friendly.” She then takes a bite of the same piece of toast.

“Oh.” Maya watches Carina eat her toast for a moment. “I would have gotten you groceries if you needed, if you asked. I could have dropped them off at the door.”

Carina shakes her head, offering the toast to Maya again. “I didn’t ask. Plus, you’ve done so much for me recently.”

Carina has Maya lie down after their toast is finished. She takes the whipped cream and squirts a little pile onto Maya’s stomach.

“That’s cold.”

Carina smirks, looking up at Maya from under her eyelashes. “Good thing you’re hot then.” She winks and takes a strawberry and puts it in the center of the whipped cream. Carina ties her hair up onto the top of her head and takes a strawberry from the bowl and brings it to Maya’s lips.

Maya watches Carina’s every move in amazement. She takes the strawberry into her mouth, chewing it up as Carina places a kiss to her cheek.

Those lips quickly move down to Maya’s neck, over her collarbone, down the valley between her breasts, leaving a trail of wet kisses behind. She reaches the whipped cream and strawberry, sucking the strawberry into her mouth, chewing it up before leaning in again and licking the whipped cream from Maya’s stomach.

A shiver runs through Maya’s entire body. She has to reach out and hold onto Carina’s shoulders.

Once Carina cleans up all the whipped cream, she runs her tongue all the way up to Maya’s lips, grinning smugly into a kiss. She picks up the bottle of whipped cream again. “Where else do you want this?”

Maya holds her hand out for the bottle. Carina grins and puts it in Maya’s hand, thinking that Maya has an idea of where to use the whipped cream on Carina’s body. Instead, Maya brings the bottle to her face, making a whipped cream moustache. Carina laughs and leans in for a kiss. The kiss smushes the whipped cream over their lips, and noses.

Maya laughs and pulls Carina down so that she’s fully on top of her. Carina fights her though, pushing herself back up onto her elbows.

“You’ve got a little something-“ Maya runs her finger over the tip of Carina’s nose, removing the little bit of whipped cream that is there. She pulls the finger to her lips, sucking it clean. Carina watches Maya with a certain hunger in her eyes. The blonde licks the rest of the whipped cream from her own upper lip as she looks into lust filled brown eyes. “I- uh- would you be mad if I said I wanted a nap now.” Carina frowns. “I do appreciate the idea of whipped cream though.”

Carina just wanted to flip the mood after Maya told her about the call this morning but if that’s what Maya wants or needs she’s not going to argue it. There will be other opportunities to have more fun with the whipped cream. Maybe even over the course of the next few days. “Okay, I’ll let you take a nap.” She moves to get out of bed, figuring that Maya probably hasn’t slept that great the last few weeks. And now that she’s back in their bed, she can.

“Carina?”

“Yeah?”

She knows it’s going sound stupid. “Will you-“ Maya licks her lips. “Will you stay? At least until I fall asleep.” It’s like that song Bleeding Love, a song that’s on her Carina playlist. “Nothing’s greater than the rest that comes with your embrace.” She quotes the lyrics and a tender smile tugs at Carina’s lips.

“Sei il più carino. Certo, bambina.” Carina pulls the bottle of whipped cream from by Maya’s hip and set it next to the bowl of strawberries. She grabs a handful of strawberries and hops under the sheet with Maya.

Carina lays on her side, her head laying on her arm, her fingers finding Maya’s scalp running her fingers through her hair. She sets the handful of strawberries on Maya’s chest. They trade bites of strawberries until the handful is finished. Nothing is really said between them. A sigh or a hum here and there. Mostly, it’s just Maya staring at Carina with all the adoration in the world as Carina feeds her fruit and runs her fingers through her hair. A heavenly feeling in Maya’s chest. Carina being her own personal naked goddess. It’s like a fairytale that Maya gets to live out every day.

Maya grabs her clipboard as they exit the apartment. They are running late, which Maya isn’t happy about. But she can’t complain because she’s the one that suggested that Carina shower with her. Which, of course, included more than just showering.

It’s four o’clock as they get in the car and Carina starts them on their way to the restaurant. Maya pulls her phone from her pocket and calls Vic.

“Hey, Vic. Sorry. We’re running a little behind schedule. We’ll be there in ten minutes tops.” She tells Victoria and listens as Vic teases her about being late. Maya hangs up relieved that Vic isn’t mad that they are late.

“I’m sorry, bambina.” Carina pouts from the driver’s seat.

Maya shakes her head. “Don’t worry about it. It’s not like Vic and Travis haven’t been late for anything before.”

“Maybe not but you haven’t.” Carina glances over at her fiancée. “And I know it rubs you wrong.”

There is a hum from the passenger’s seat. Carina is not wrong. “It does but I’m not going to make a big deal out of it. There are more important things to worry about right now.”

Maya bust through the front door of Kaminski’s eight minutes later. “Sorry we’re late.”

Carina walks in, much calmer, behind her. “Hey, guys.” She gives a little shy wave.

“Oh, come here.” Travis holds his arms out and waits for Carina to step into them.

“Hey, Trav.” Carina whispers as she gives him a hug. She gives Vic a brief hug next before Maya introduces Carina to Vic’s parents.

They sit down at one of the new tables and discuss the menu for the wedding. The timing of everything. Travis goes over what he’s thinking for decoration placement. He shows Carina and Maya photos on his phone of what the flower arrangements are going to look like. He runs by the idea of stringing up some lights throughout the room, to add to the ambiance, in his words.

Maya sits there, holding Carina’s hand in her lap as she listens. Most of everything Travis is saying he has run by her already. “Okay, Vic. What do you have for us?”

Vic holds her arms out at her side, looking around the room. “I procured the venue, isn’t that enough.” She laughs. “No, but in all seriousness, I have an idea I want to run by you both. I don’t know if you have any music you want to use and, if so, that’s totally cool. But I would like to offer to sing as you both are walking into the ceremony.”

Carina tenses up at Vic’s words. She tries not to let it be visible, not letting anyone else know. But Maya turns just slightly, it’s almost imperceivable, recognizing it.

“I have a song in mind. I can play guitar as well so it’s not just me singing.” Vic explains what she’d like to do.

Carina sniffles as the tears gather in her eyes. She’s overwhelmed with emotions and everything that everyone is doing for Maya, for the wedding. She knew Maya had good people around her, a good crew, but she’s been away, and she hasn’t seen any of this wedding prep first hand. It’s a little overwhelming to see it all now, only two days out.

“Are you okay?” Vic can see that Carina is trying not to cry.

Maya turns to Carina fully, to ask what’s wrong. Carina shakes her head and wipes the tears from her eyes. “Your friends are just so wonderful.” She sniffles.

“They’re your friends too. What’s mine is yours.” Maya whispers.

Carina knows Maya is just saying that to make her feel better. Though she does have friendly relationships with some of Maya's friends, Carina wouldn’t say they are anywhere near on the same level that they are with Maya.

Maya rubs a hand over Carina’s back. “You gonna be okay?”

Carina nods, composing herself again. “Si.”

“Okay.” Maya leans in and presses a kiss to Carina’s cheek. “As long as you don’t steal our thunder, Vic. I think that sounds wonderful.” Maya says, looking over to Carina so she can give her input too. Carina nods and smiles, agreeing.

Maya heads into the station early the next morning. She needs to get her report finished. She needs to talk to everyone on her crew. She spends most of the morning doing that.

The rest of the day is spent getting last minute things done and running around. Maya swings by the restaurant in the middle of the afternoon to see how the set up and decorating is going. She grins at the sight of Vic pointing and instructing Travis on what to do and where to hang the lights as Travis stands on a chair. “You ever think about being a lieutenant or captain, Hughes?”

“Maya.” Vic spins around and gives her captain a big hug. “Where’s the wife?”

Maya shrugs. “At home, I think. Unless she ran out to do something. I was at the station all morning and then I did some running around of my own and now I’m here. But I’m going home after this. I just wanted to see how things were coming along.”

“Wonderfully.” Vic grins. “My mom and dad got everything fired up in the kitchen earlier and then were showing their head chefs around the new kitchen. Everyone is super excited.”

“Good.”

“Are you?” Travis asks from his perch on top of the chair.

“I am.” Maya nods. “Nervous but I am excited.” She gives Travis her anxious smile, trying to pass it off as something other than anxious but knows she’s failing. “So, you’ve got everything handled here.”

“Yes, boss.” Travis grins.

“I really appreciate it guys. I don’t know what I, we, would have done without you.”

“You would’ve figured something out. You always do.” Travis gives Maya some encouragement. “I’d get down and give you a hug but Vic would probably yell at me so I’ll give you one tomorrow.”

Vic frowns. “I haven’t been that bad today.”

Travis hums to disagree.

Maya chuckles. “If you don’t need me, I’m going to find my wife.”

“You’re just itching to say that, aren’t you?” Travis wiggles his eyebrows.

Maya doesn’t even deny it. She smiles her happiest smile. “Yeah. I can’t wait to get married tomorrow.”

“Tick tock. Less than 24 hours.” Vic taps at her watch with a smile towards Maya before turning to Travis again. “Back to work. We have less than 24 hours to figure this out. And I don’t want to wait until tomorrow.”

“See.” Travis says to Maya, pointing at Vic. “Bossy.”

Maya shakes her head as she turns to leave. “I’ll see you both tomorrow.” It takes a lot of restraint for Maya to not do everything herself, to have control over the decorations and the room. But she has to go find Carina. And she got things to do at home yet before the wedding tomorrow.

The day has been busy with last minute prep at the restaurant. Carina worked at home on making cannoli as a special treat for all their guests. Maya went over her checklist on her clipboard. Checking off things one by one throughout the day, making sure that they were complete and ready for the next day. There were only a few things left when she stopped to grab something to eat for dinner.

“How do you feel?” She asks Carina.

“Nervous. Excited.”

“What are you nervous about?” Maya asks, shoving a meatball into her mouth. Of course, Carina made them spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. Comfort food. “You know-“ She’s in a goofy mood. She doesn’t even let Carina say anything. “-I’d marry you just for your Italian cooking.”

Carina chuckles. “Okay, bella.”

“What? It’s seriously delicious. I know you say you’ve got nothing on your mamma, but I’ve never tasted your mamma’s food, so this is the best I’ve ever had.”

“Thank you.” Carina frowns though.

“That was supposed to be a compliment. The best compliment. I don’t tell you enough how amazing you are. Your cooking skills. Your bedroom skills. All your skills. Your doctor skills. Your special Maya skills.”

Carina shakes her head though. The compliments are wonderful. They make her feel loved, but Maya brought up her mamma, on the day before they’re to get married. “I just wish my mamma were here right now.”

“Oh, Jesus.” Maya runs her hand over her face, knowing that she stepped in it big time. “I’m sorry, love.” Maya gets up from her chair and goes over to Carina’s across the table. She pulls her chair out and turns it sideways, kneeling in front of Carina. “I’m sorry. I wish your mom was here too. I wish she was here to see you and tell you how proud of you she is. I’m sorry that can’t happen. From what you’ve told me, I know that she would be. She would be proud of everything that you’ve accomplished so far in your life. And she’d be proud of the strong woman that you have grown into. Look, I know we’re both anxious and excited and nervous about tomorrow. What if we go watch the sunset tonight?”

Carina leans forward and wraps her arms around Maya’s neck. “That sounds wonderful. I’m sorry I’m such an emotional mess the last few days.”

“Don’t be. There’s a lot going on.” Maya knows that things aren’t fair, and life is hard, and everything that they’ve, that Carina has been through in the last few months is enough to make anyone emotional and sad all the time. She’s proud of Carina for how well she has handled everything and understands that there are going to be little sad hurdles that she will run into moving forward. Like their wedding or anniversaries of her mother or brother’s death’s, their birthdays. A normal sort of thing under the circumstances.

They watch the sunset quietly cuddled together even though it’s a warm summer night. No one could pry them apart if they tried in these moments. Maya is a ball of worry that everything is going to go as planned tomorrow. And Carina isn’t much better, full of nervous excitement. But they forge through those anxieties together.

“Remember when we first came here?” Carina whispers as the sun dips below the water.

“I do.”

“On our first date. Even though you didn’t want to call it a date because it freaked you out. And we watched the sunset and then had sex in your car.” Carina reminds the blonde.

Maya smirks. And Carina laughs at that smirk.

“Wanna do it again?” Maya is the one to ask.

“As much as I want to say yes, and as much of a thrill as that might be, I think we probably shouldn’t. Not today at least. Don’t want to get in any trouble before tomorrow. After we are married, we can get in as much trouble as you want.”

Maya shakes her head, knowing that Carina probably wants them to get married before anything else. Before they can move on with anything else in their lives. She knows they need to get married for Carina’s visa status and for her to stay in this country. Maya isn’t, not even a little bit, going to jeopardize that.

“We’re getting married tomorrow.” Carina rests her head on Maya’s shoulder.

“We’re getting married tomorrow.” Maya whispers, laying her head on top of Carina’s and wrapping an arm around her.