52. Chapter 52

They are into spring now, settled into married life. The world is getting vaccinated, and things are starting to feel more normal on that front. Or a new normal because nothing will ever be completely normal again after a worldwide epidemic.

A pandemic that has taken things from Carina. So much. So much of her time and energy. So much of her happiness. So many of her family members. She just wishes it would all be over, and that the world could move on. But, as a doctor, she knows that’s not going to happen. Covid isn’t just going to go away one day. It will come in waves as the virus mutates. And each wave with have its consequences and then it will die down for a few weeks or months until the next wave hits.

Maya has everything more or less planned. Her organization skills and need for planning are a blessing and a curse. Where they want to stay. What they want to do. She would just have to book everything and finalize it.

“Hey, Carina?”

She’s been mulling over the pandemic for the last few minutes as she stares out the window when Maya calls her name. “Si, bella.” She spins around, coffee cup in hand.

Maya sits at the island with her laptop. “What about that honeymoon? Should we do it soon? More and more people are able to get vaccinated now. And things are starting to slowly open up and rules are more relaxed.”

Carina comes over and sets a hand on Maya’s back. She looks at the laptop screen. The page for a resort.  “You’ve got this all planned out, don’t you?” She gives Maya a knowing smile and then presses her lips to the side of Maya’s head.

“Yeah.” The thought of a week alone with Carina and no worries to worry about is very enticing. A year or so ago the idea would have been anything but enticing. It would have been terrified and anxiety inducing. And it was. When she and Carina went on their first vacation together it was terrifying and anxiety inducing. She literally had a panic attack while they were away.

Carina sighs. “I hate to do this to you-“

“What?” Maya turns away from her computer screen to look at Carina. The brunette is about to give her a reason as to why they can’t go to Jamaica. Some sort of bad news.

“Can we do something else instead?”

Maya lets out a huff. “But-“ She thumbs over her shoulder. “I have it all planned.” She put a lot of time and effort into planning their honeymoon vacation.

Carina gives Maya an apologetic smile. She hates having to do this and she knows Maya worked super hard at the plans. “We can still go but I want to do something else now, this spring or early summer, instead. We can go to Jamaica in the winter when it’s cold and wet in Seattle.”

Maya hangs her head and nods. “Okay.” Carina isn’t saying they can’t go. She’s just saying that she wants to delay the trip. But Maya was really looking forward to going.

“Can we go on a driving trip instead?”

“A driving trip?” Maya looks up again, trying to gauge where Carina is going with this thought.

Carina nods. “Like-“ She raises both her hands like she’s gripping a steering wheel, moving them up and down a little bit like she’s driving. “-in the car.”

“A road trip?”

“Si. Si.” Carina nods, excited.

Maya grins. She wraps her hands on around Carina’s waist, pulling her wife closer, rubbing her hands down over her ass. “Where to?” She hums. The shift in plans throws Maya off but she’s trying to adjust quickly and follow Carina’s idea.

Carina smirks. “Wisconsin.”

Maya tilts her head to the side. “That’s quite the road trip.”

“Is it?” Carina isn’t sure how far it is, and her spatial awareness of the United States isn’t good. She just knows Seattle is on the west coast and Wisconsin is somewhere in the middle. Upper middle, maybe. By the big lakes.

Maya hums and nods her head. “Here.” She turns to the laptop and pulls up a map of the United States. “See.” She points to the screen. “We are here. And Wisconsin is there.”

“Oh.” Carina pouts, sad that they likely won’t be going now. “So, it’s too far?”

Maya shakes her head. “No. It’s just a long way. It’s like multiple days of driving. Not just, like, one. I think we could probably drive it in three or four days. Or more if you wanted to stop places along the way.” Maya tries to think of the logistics. “It would have to be planned out.”

“Of course.” Carina expects nothing less.

“You really want to do this?” Maya looks up at Carina.

Her lips turn upright again. She folds her hands together. “Can we? Please?”

Maya looks back to the computer, picking it up with one hand and standing. “You’re throwing me for a loop, woman.” She teases. “I thought we were going to Jamaica.” She says with a little sing-songy tease in her voice.

“We will. But I want to do this first. And this is something I don’t want to do in winter.” She doesn’t want to visit the place where her mother and brother lived in the cold of winter. She did enough of that when she went to visit them over Christmas/winter break when she was young.

Maya hums. “You’re right about that. I don’t want to drive across the country in snowstorms.” Snowstorms or blizzards would definitely not be the best way to travel.

They move over to the couch. Maya sits with the laptop on her legs. Her legs extended out, feet on the coffee table. Carina sits next to her, her hands wrapped around Maya’s bicep as she watches Maya work on the laptop.

Maya brings up a map with the roads and interstates on it. “We could fly.” She looks over to Carina. It’s her way of making sure that Carina is sure about driving.

Carina shakes her head. “I thought about it. This is what I want to do. This way we can see the country. Stop at popular spots. Right? Make it a whole thing.” She waves her hand around hoping that Maya is understanding what she is trying to say. Carina doesn’t just want to fly there and back. She wants it to be a journey. She wants to enjoy some time with Maya, outside of their home, outside of Seattle. She wants it to be an epic adventure.

Maya smiles. “You’re so smart but when were you going to tell me about this?” Carina simply shrugs and Maya shakes her head lightly. She hasn’t seen much of the United States, either. Sure, from the sky, by plane, when she traveled for track, but they never stopped anywhere or visited landmarks or monuments. It was always about business not leisure or pleasure. “This could be fun. And a way to know if we can truly live together forever.”

“Cosa?” Carina rests her head on Maya’s shoulder.

“They say if you can travel with someone. Like for a long period of time, weeks, then you won’t have a problem living together or being together. Traveling can be stressful. You’re stuck together the entire time. There’s nowhere to go to get away from each other for a little bit and decompress. And everyone needs their alone time. It wears a lot of people down and makes them irritated. And they get cranky and lash out. So, they say if a couple can handle that, they can handle anything.”

Carina wonders if that’s going to happen to them. She starts second guessing the road trip. She doesn’t want them to fight or be stressed out. She hums as the thoughts ruminate.

Maya can almost see Carina processing what she just said. “Stop thinking the worst.” She tells Carina. “It’s just what people say. But I bet we’ll be fine. I’m literally obsessed with you.”

Carina chuckles.

Maya looks at the map. “We have two options. I-90 there and back. It’s the quickest but only slightly. The difference would be about an hour of drive time and 50 miles. Or I-90 and switching over to I-94. Or we could do both. Take one on the way there and then the other on the way back. The switch would be-“ Maya looks closer at the screen. “-in the eastern half of Montana.” She opens a new tab. “Let’s look at places we can stop.” Maya pulls up a website with the best attractions in the Great Plains along I-90.

They look at websites for National Parks. There are the Badlands, Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Deadwood. There are also websites for different hotels and lodging. Maya doesn’t leave any stone unturned. She starts breaking down the miles and travel time and points they can stop at and by the end of the quiet morning they have most of the trip there and back planned out.

“This is going to be like a two week trip.” Maya mumbles as much for herself as it is for Carina.

“Is that okay with you?” Carina asks. She knows Maya doesn’t like to be away from work for long periods of time.

Maya shrugs. “It’s fine.” Now that she’s not captain it doesn’t really matter if she’s gone for more than a few days. As Carina reminder her on their first vacation, everyone will survive without her, they will figure it out, they will be fine.  And she’s not in charge of the station anymore, so that’s less of a problem now. She still doesn’t like being out of work that long though.

Carina removes her right hand from Maya’s bicep. She scratches at the back of her head. Maya hums and leans into the touch. After a few soft scratches, Carina rests her palm on the back of Maya’s neck against her spine. “I don’t want it to be just fine.” Carina whispers. “I know that’s a long time for you.”

“It is.” The blonde sighs. “But I’m not captain anymore. I need to learn how to let go of that and let someone else be in charge and not worry about things or if something could go wrong.”

Carina hums. She feels deep sadness for Maya when she speaks about no longer being captain. It was so much of Maya’s life, and she can see that Maya misses it. She can see that it’s affected her. She kisses Maya’s shoulder gently. “You’ll be captain again one day. I know it.”

Her wife’s belief in her is one of the only things that Maya uses to keep thinking that she will be too. Without Carina, she might think it’s a lost cause at this point; that the investigation will lead to her no longer being captain or even a firefighter. But she hasn’t heard or seen any progress on that in months. It’s a tiny little thought at the back of her mind now. Teeny tiny.

Maya has one final thing to do before she is off of work for the next two weeks for their road trip. She had been leery about taking that much time off with the investigation of her ongoing, but she hasn’t heard anything on that front. If there were going to be a hearing or any meetings in the coming weeks, she would know about them already. So, Maya assumes they aren’t finished investigating yet and more time is needed. Plus, she feels like she is putting her entire life on hold for this investigation. She’s going to try to not do that anymore. Maya doesn’t know when the investigation will conclude so there isn’t a timeframe. She can’t wait around forever. She doesn’t want to use the investigation as an excuse either and she knows she has been to a certain degree.

She’s about to leave. And she’s about to drop a bomb before she does so. She knows it’s not fair, but she warned Sullivan. She warned him at Christmas time, and she hasn’t followed through on her threat yet. She thinks his completely forgotten about her threat and that she won’t actually expose him. But he’s got that all wrong.

Maya had volunteered to cook breakfast for the crew. She volunteered the night before. As a gift to the crew because she’ll be gone for two weeks. Everyone knows about her coming vacation and has teased her mercilessly about it since she made the announcement a few days back. Vic was the worst. It is the last meal before she goes. Usually, they don’t have breakfast at the end of shift, but today is an exception. She wants everyone to be seated at the table.

There are eggs and biscuits. Bacon. Waffles. She doesn’t make Carina’s famous French toast. They don’t deserve that, but waffles are a firehouse favorite.

“Okay, everyone.” Maya stands at the head of the table. Her plate at the place in front of her remains empty. They all turn to Maya, still willing to listen to Maya as a captain. “I’m off on my road trip tomorrow but I have some parting information for you all.”

“You found your brother.” Jack pipes up, hopeful as ever. He always wants Maya to reconnect with her brother. A fan of family reunions, probably because he wishes he had one of his own. Also, he knows what it’s like to not have a stable place to live and always feels sympathy that Mason had been homeless.

That makes Maya pause. “No.” She wrinkles up her face for a moment before evening it out.

“Carina is coming to have breakfast with us.” Vic guesses.

“Also, no.” Maya has to take a deep breath. She looks down at her empty plate.

“Your dad is in jail.” Travis mumbles with a shit-eating grin.

Maya smirks at that. That would be a good one. “Listen, I’ve been holding onto something for a long time and now is as good of a time as any to tell you all.”

Sullivan pushes his chair back from the table at Maya’s latest words. Doom washes over him. He knows where this is going.

“No.” She points at him. “You stay here.” She doesn’t want to humiliate him and scold him in front of everyone but at the same time he needs to be present for what she’s going to say for the words to have the most effect.

All eyes glance to Robert before coming back to Maya. The mood in the room shifts, souring, becoming tense. He bows his head but stays seated looking much like a scolded child. She rises her chin, head held high.

“I know that what happened at the scene that got me demoted is my fault. I made a call that went against the chief. I did that. And I don’t regret it. For the record. But what isn’t fair is what happened afterwards, and I believe that you all should be privy to this information as it’s effects your jobs as well. And I’ve been holding onto it because I thought it would have come to light before now-“ She glances in Sullivan’s direction. “-but it hasn’t, so I can’t wait any longer.” She looks around the group. They all sit there with rapt attention.

“Andy is a huge part of this. And there are other things going on there that I’m not going to discuss but she told me that her husband went to the chief after the incident to talk to him. That he wanted to ‘save the station’.” She uses finger quotes around the words. “From what, I’m not sure. Me, I guess. Apparently, the chief was threatening or going to shut down this station.” Maya jabs her right index finger into the tabletop. “Something about budget, but I think that’s probably just bullshit. Nothing’s changed but me being demoted and the station is still here, still open.” Maya shrugs.

“The kicker-“ She looks directly at Sullivan now, obvious. “-he offered himself as a replacement for me as captain. I guess, at least the chief made one smart decision in not allowing that to happen and bringing in Beckett instead. So yeah. I don’t want to discuss it, but I thought you should all know. That’s all.” She takes in the silence and confused looks on everyone’s faces for a moment before removing herself from the table.

Maya goes into the bunk room and sits on her cot. There are fifteen minutes left of their shift. She grabs her phone and sends Carina a quick text. She knows the brunette is likely just getting up and getting ready to go. They are set to be in Spokane by the evening. She just has to finish with work first, head home, pack up a few loose odds and ends and then they can set off on their road trip.

I told everyone.

She hits send and then types out another message.

 I can’t wait to see you and go on our road trip. Love you.

Maya sends that message too and sits there for a moment and thinks about the possibly ramifications of her little announcement before changing out of her uniform. She’s nearly finished when Vic walks into the room. She sighs.

“Was all of that true?”

She didn’t want to discuss it, but Maya spins around to face Vic. “As far as I know. But you did notice that Sullivan didn’t and hasn’t disputed anything. That’s very telling. I’ve approached him about this before. He didn’t deny anything then either.”

“How long have you known this?”

Maya thinks back and shrugs. “Not long after the wedding. So, for months. A long time.” She starts packing up her backpack. “Look, I don’t want to discuss this. You guys can discuss it amongst yourselves while I’m gone, and that’s the reason I told you all today. I don’t want to and can’t be around the discussion. I don’t want any fighting or anger. I’m angry enough. But everyone deserved to know. And I feel better now that it’s out there and I can go on my vacation with my wife and leave everything else here.” She slings her backpack over her shoulder and approaches Vic. She sets a hand on Vic’s shoulder. “What’s done is done. And there’s nothing I can do about it now. I’m in a holding pattern and that’s all. So Carina and I are going to spend a few weeks outside of that holding pattern so I don’t go insane. I had thought we were going to Jamaica but apparently Wisconsin is a better honeymoon according to my wife.” She smiles.

“You like that, don’t you?”

Maya raises an eyebrow in question.

“That you have a wife. That you get to call Carina your wife. That you can use the word as often as you want.”

Maya hums. “Very much.” She squeezes Vic’s shoulder.

Vic shakes her head with a chuckle. “Be safe. Have a good time with your wife.”

“I will.” She winks and steps past Vic. “Try not to get too many firegasms without me while I’m gone.”

She walks out, past the table and the silence that sits there. She doesn’t even look over but knows that Sullivan probably excused himself as soon as Maya was finished.

Maya steps out of the building into the early morning sun. It’s warm on her face and she hopes it’s a good sign for her road trip.

The blonde made sure that they had everything that they needed, that nothing unessential was left on or plugged in, and that everything on her checklist was marked off.

The first portion of their road trip is just over four hours, from Seattle to Spokane, but they stop for lunch along the way, so they don’t get to the first hotel for nearly six hours after they left the apartment.

Day two is longer, from Spokane to Bozeman and through the Rocky Mountains for a large portion of their drive. Carina gets a little queasy at one point and they stop in Missoula for air and a brief walk.

During their travels phone service is in and out, but just as they are approaching Bozeman Maya’s phone dings with a few messages.

Maya is driving so she looks over at Carina. The Italian nods and lifts Maya’s phone from the center console. “It’s from Travis.” Carina reads the message to herself. “OH.”

“Cosa?”

“He says that Sullivan has admitted to going to the chief and trying to replace you with himself. And that he and Andy aren’t speaking to each other or living together.”

“Well, we knew that last part.” Maya hums.

Carina nods and puts Maya’s phone back. “I’m glad it’s all out there now.” Carina takes Maya’s hand, holding it with her left and petting it with her right.

“Me too.” It’s a small relief but a relief none the less. That’s all Maya says. She doesn’t want that to be the focus of their trip. She’s trying to remain positive and upbeat and optimistic.

Day three, is their longest driving day. And maybe it’s a mistake to make multiple stops along the way. The journey is from Bozeman to Rapid City South Dakota.

Carina pulls them off the interstate and heads the few miles towards Deadwood. They walk through the town and learn about the Wild West, Calamity Jane, Wild Bill Hickok, and the Black Hills Gold Rush.

After a little window shopping and a bite to eat, Maya drives them out of town on highway 14A over to Sturgis. “This area is beautiful. There’s absolutely nothing around as far as city and infrastructure but the nature part is gorgeous.”

Carina tends to agree. She’s been looking around the entire time Maya drives, just taking everything in. The Black Hills. All the trees. The same as when they drove through the mountains; Carina stared out the window and took in their grand beauty even if the hills and bends in the road made her feel sick.

“They have a huge motorcycle rally here in Sturgis every year. Did you know that?”

Carina raises an eyebrow. “How do you know that?”

“I’m full of useless information.” Maya shrugs.

“I wouldn’t call it useless.” Carina loves Maya little random facts. She whips them out here and there and they always catch her off guard and make her think, so they are not useless in her opinion.

“Maybe we could go one year.” Maya comments as a few thoughts pop into her mind.

“To a motorcycle rally? I feel like that wouldn’t be our crowd. Also, eww.” Carina pulls a disgusted face.

Maya chuckles. Carina is probably right about that one. “We could take Andrew’s motorcycle.” She whispers, uncertain how the words will be taken.

The idea hadn’t even occurred to Carina. She snaps her head around, staring incredulously over at Maya.

She can feel Carina’s intense eyes on her. “Or not.” Suddenly, there is a hand on her forearm. “Or not. Sorry.” The hand around her arm tightens and Maya finally glances over at Carina. The brunette has that thank you, you’re incredible, I love you look on her face. “Oh.”

“Grazie mille, bambina.” Carina whispers.

Maya tries to focus on the road completely, but her thoughts are churning about whatever she has just provoked in Carina. “For?”

“For thinking of Andrea. For keeping his memory alive. For wanting to take something that was precious to him and have it be precious for us. But I’m not going to a motorcycle rally.” Carina chuckles, her grip on Maya loosening.

“You are very welcome but-“

“Don’t say it.”

“But-“ Maya glances over.

“Don’t say it.” Carina raises a threatening finger. “Don’t say it because I am thanking you.”

Maya notices the little bit of edge and feistiness in Carina right now. Seconds ago, she was thoughtful and reminiscent. It’s probably a good thing they don’t have much farther to drive. After a long seven plus hours in the car Maya is ready to get out and do something else and she feels like Carina is too.

The hotel in Rapid City isn’t anything too fancy. They’ve been staying at hotels that aren’t super expensive. Always just staying the night and leaving again in the morning. Carina never approves of the hotel coffee in the morning, so they haven’t been staying for breakfast. Maya could see it as annoying. There’s a perfectly fine continental breakfast, minus the coffee, but they haven’t sat down to one yet. But she tries to see it as one of Carina’s cute quirks and they end up picking up coffee and a breakfast sandwich somewhere else usually.

“They have an indoor waterpark here.” Maya gasps in awe.

“Si, bella.” Carina knew that when she was making the reservation. “You’ll have to wait a few days for that though.”

Maya pouts. She knows they are going to the waterparks when they are in Wisconsin, but the temptation is there to go down and splash around in the lazy river right now, or go down a water slide or two. She wouldn’t be long. She thinks she could go and be back in forty-five minutes to an hour. Carina won’t miss her too much in that time. “Why not?”

“Why not what?”

“Why not now? What are we doing tonight that is so important?” She envisions them discussing their route for tomorrow and then the places to stop at. Maya is excited to go see Mount Rushmore in the morning.

“Aren’t you tired? Or not tired- but we sat in the car all day.” Carina is filled with a weird sort of energy. “I feel like I need to walk around and stretch or something.”

Maya nods. She starts stretching right there in the middle of the hotel room. “Good idea.” Maya bends at the waist, stretching out her back and the backs of her legs. She bounces a little to extend the stretch.

Carina moves from her spot on the bed. A quick look at Maya stretching like that is all it takes. She moves over to the blonde, running a hand up the length of Maya’s spine.

The firefighter jumps in surprise, not expecting the hand, but then settling and welcoming the now familiar touch.

“Bella.” Carina moans. “I have other ideas than the waterpark.”

Maya smirks. “Is stretching sexy?” She teases.

“Your ass and your legs are sexy. Bent over like that-“ She moans again, not bothering to finish the sentence.

Maya stands up straight, chewing on her lower lip as Carina’s hand moves down to her ass. “Fuck the waterpark.” She mumbles and wraps Carina up in her arms.

Day four, starts out a little later than originally planned due to many hours the night before where they should have been sleeping but weren’t.

Maya has been up for about an hour. She sits quietly in bed, her phone in her hands. She started with looking up local fire departments, checking their sizes and seeing how many stations they have. It’s a curious thing that Maya has been doing along their journey. Compare Seattle, their department, their station with those in cities across the country.

She letting Carina sleep a little extra today. The doctor had complained about being tired last night when Maya wanted to go to the waterpark and then they did things that actually make a person tired and not just that faux tired feeling that you get from riding in the car all day. Today, they have less than five hours to drive so it’s an easier jaunt than yesterday. Either way, Carina is still asleep.

Until she’s not.

Maya feels her shift first. And then hears a little groan. The sheets around Maya’s waist move as Carina pushes herself to sit like Maya with her back to the headboard. The blonde looks over to see a sleepy face and a yawn. “Buongiorno.”

Carina looks over. “I’m sore.” She whines.

Maya laughs. “Mi dispiace?”

Carina chuckles. “The best kind of sore, bella.”

“I know.”

Carina curls into Maya’s side, wrapping her hands around Maya’s bicep. It’s one of her favorite ways to hold onto Maya that isn’t a full on hug. “Whatcha doing?” She rests her head on Maya’s shoulder.

“Just looking at the local fire departments.”

Carina smiles at Maya’s cute curiosity. She nuzzles her nose against Maya shoulder before pressing a kiss to her t-shirt covered shoulder. “Thanks for letting me sleep.”

Maya hums. “I thought about going for a run but then you would undoubtedly wake up and not know where I was and so I decided against it. But once we get to Madison, I’m running that first morning.”

“Okay.” Carina is so grateful that Maya is so thoughtful. Maya knows that even though it just other cities in the United States it’s still a bit daunting to go somewhere other than familiar Seattle as a foreigner, as someone who has an accent, as someone who might not be seen by everyone the same way, as someone who could be berated by others for just where she comes from. Maya doesn’t let hate happen to Carina if she can help it. The hate that Carina and Andrew experienced on the train still sits with Maya. It’s not something that she’s easily gotten over. It made her look at things from Carina’s perspective more often. And it makes her more cautious and protective in public situations sometimes, especially in unfamiliar places.

“It’s late.” Carina notes, putting her head back on Maya’s shoulder.

“I know. If we want to spend more than fifteen minutes at Rushmore we should get going soon.” The blonde says without really thinking.

“Why didn’t you wake me?”

Maya shrugs. “It doesn’t-“ She was going to say it doesn’t matter. But that would contradict her previous statement. And it does, but in the grand scheme of things it doesn’t matter what time they get going. If they make it to their next hotel at four in the afternoon or seven in the evening, it doesn’t matter. She’s trying not to be so rigid with the schedule and she knows Carina has noticed so far. She doesn’t want to become overbearing or intolerable with following the schedule as they travel but it’s hard to break certain patterns.

“You are absolutely beautiful.” Carina reaches up and taps at Maya’s forehead.

The blonde wrinkles up her face. “What?”

“You.” Carina chuckles. “I know you are thinking about the itinerary and timing and how many miles we have to travel and where we’ll be able to stop and eating depending on what time of the day it is. Your beautiful, complicated brain.”

Maya thinks there’s going to be more to it than that, but Carina doesn’t follow up with anything else. She’s correct though so Maya doesn’t have anything else to say about it. And it seems weird to thank Carina for complimenting her brain. No one has ever complimented her brain before. No one except Carina. And for the longest time, Maya thought all her brain was was messed up. She never thought it was beautiful. She mostly wished she couldn’t think certain things and ignored her thoughts. She hated that her brain seemed to want things she couldn’t have or betrayed her on a daily basis. It wasn’t until Carina came along that there was an alternative way to see her brain and its thoughts. It’s taken a lot of work, but Maya is starting to think it was all worth it. It’s very much worth it to be here sitting next to a half-naked goddess on a pseudo-honeymoon/cross country road trip. It’s worth it to be married and cared for. It’s all worth it and Maya of old couldn’t have ever thought that.

“I love you.” She says in a whisper.

Carina hums. “And I love you.” Her hand roams over Maya’s chest.

“Ah.” Maya grabs at Carina’s wrist. “If we start that room service will be knocking at the door and kicking us out of the hotel cuz we’ve missed check out.”

“So?”

Maya laughs. “We do have places to go.” She delicately untangles herself from Carina and gets out of bed.

Carina slumps over into the spot that Maya was sitting in, a pout firmly on her face.

The blonde pulls on a pair of shorts. “You are very hard to say no to when you do that.” She bends and presses her lips chastely to Carina’s.

The brunette wraps her hand around Maya’s head, holding her there for a moment, thinking she has won.

“But no.” Maya mumbles against Carina’s lips.

Carina flops back onto the mattress dramatically.

“I’m going down to get something to eat.” Maya isn’t going to fall for any of Carina’s tricks today. “What do you want?”

“Just good coffee.” Carina calls out as Maya exits the hotel room with a chuckle.

They are on the road to Mount Rushmore an hour later. After stopping for appropriate coffee, of course.

On the way there Maya asks Carina an innocuous question. “Do you even know who’s on Mount Rushmore?” She keeps her focus on the two lane, windy road that they are on.

“Presidents.” Carina replies too quickly.

Maya chuckles. “Okay, smarty pants, which ones?”

“The first one.” It’s a logical guess. “And the most popular ones.” She knows Maya’s going to laugh at that, and she does.

Once her laughter dies down, she asks a follow up question. Maya is onto the fact that Carina probably doesn’t have a clue. “And who’s the first president?” Maya asks.

Carina isn’t sure. She’s thinking it’s between Washington and Jefferson. She knows those two old guys were in the same period of time. “Uhhhhh-“

Maya puts the turn signal on to head to the park. “Ya know, you’re going to need to know these answers at some point.”

Carina looks over at Maya. She doesn’t know why she would need to know. Maya glances over quickly before returning her eyes to the details of the parking lot they are entering. “If you are going to become a citizen. There’s a test.” She fills in.

Carina knows there is a test. What she doesn’t know, though, is if she is going to become a US citizen, or more so, if she wants to become a citizen. “I know there’s a test Maya.” She looks out the side window as the memorial becomes visible through the trees.

“We should start studying soon.” Maya doesn’t have any clue what would be on the citizenship test, but she imagined it would be things she learned in middle school history class.

“For the test?” Carina wants to clarify.

Maya hums and nods.

Carina hums too. She needs Maya to pump the brakes on the whole studying and test thing. They literally got married less than a year ago. Carina is going to need a green card first. And after that there is a mandatory waiting period before you can apply to become a citizen. Carina doesn’t want to burst Maya’s excited little bubble by mentioning all that; let alone that she doesn’t know if she even wants to become a citizen of the United States. It’s not a discussion she wants to have as they are pulling up to Mount Rushmore. It’s not one she can have as Maya is unbuckling her seatbelt and getting out of the car.

They stop for the night in Sioux Falls with just one more day of travel to go until they reach the main destination. Madison, Wisconsin.

Maya doesn’t know anything about Madison and not much about Wisconsin expect for that they are known for cheese and the Green Bay Packers. That’s about it. She assumes it’s mostly small towns. It’s in the middle of the US. Small towns and a sort of simple living or simple mindedness. So, she a little worried about homophobia and people turning their noses up at Carina and her Italian-ness.

Carina is anxious on their fifth and final travel day from Sioux Falls to Madison. She has certain trepidations about being in Madison again. It’s been a long time since she was in the city. She never really was there long enough to say she knew anything about it other than it was the place where Andrea and mamma lived.

But it was the place where Andrea and mamma lived. She remembers her time there in the winters as peaceful and happy. She was young, and maybe naïve, but it felt good being with her mother and brother in the modest house that they lived in. She’s worried about what she might feel coming back but she also feels like she needs to come back, to see the place, to get something out of it. Maybe to find some sense of healing or closure. At least, Carina is hoping to get something out of this trip. That is the whole point of it. That, and going on an adventure with Maya.

So, when Maya pulls the car into the hotel that they will be staying the next few days at, Carina’s knees bounce anxiously.

“We’re here.” Maya says with a little grin and shake of the head as she shuts the car off. She’s trying to ease Carina’s nervous energy but she’s not sure that she’s helping. “Do you want to get the bags or check in?” They’ve been switching off on those tasks at each hotel and location that they stop at.

“Check in.” Carina knows she would just be pacing the hotel lobby with the bags while she waited for Maya to finish with the check in.