Chapter Text
Andy Herrera flinched at the sound of a woman’s pained screams reverberating from somewhere in the otherwise uncharacteristically quiet third floor of the hospital. It was still early, before visiting hours, but she wasn't there to visit a patient, so she figured she wasn't breaking any rules.
It wasn't until she turned around the corner that she saw the person she was looking for – a lone figure was sitting in the waiting room. She approached slowly, not wanting to startle the woman sporting a blank stare on her face.
“Hey,” Andy tried, softly, but didn't get a response. “Maya, you're freaking me out.”
“I’m freaking myself out,” Maya Bishop replied, her raised eyebrows the only movement on her face.
Andy turned to face her friend. “Maya, I know it feels like a lot, but you’ve got this.”
Still looking straight ahead, Maya smiled at her friend's words, as if what Andy had said was the most ridiculous idea she had ever heard in her life. “Do I? Carina made it seem so easy, but everything is different now. I don't know if I can do this.”
Maya covered her face with her hands, combing back the loose hairs that had escaped her usually perfect ponytail. It had been a long night.
“I know it's a big change,” Andy pauses for a second at Maya’s scoff, “but you can do this.”
Maya's body slid down on the chair until her legs were spread out in front of her, her back completely off the chair.
“It's just so much more complicated now. Stella already had a mother, I simply came along and-” she smiled as she remembered the early stages of her relationship with Carina. “Loving her was just so easy, and simple.” She looked at her friend then, her smile disappearing from her face. “But now… I’m a mom, Andy.” She winced when she saw her friend’s stern look. “I know, I know I was already a mom. I know that. It's just, this time I helped create this baby. I was there from the conception, the failed attempts, the hormone shots. I am half responsible for this new life that came into this world, and what if I’m not good enough? I barely know what I’m doing with Stella, why did I think I could do this with a newborn? Why? Why did I let her convince me?”
Andy tried to cover the amusement at seeing her friend freaking out over a baby she had more than planned for.
“Maya, need I remind you this baby was your idea?” The fire captain rolled her eyes, which made Andy smile. “Look, I know it seems like a lot, but you need to pull yourself together. Your girls are going to need you.” She grabbed Maya's knee, shaking her leg. “You're an excellent mom, and this baby is lucky to have you.”
“Thank you, Andy. And please, please, don't tell my wife.”
“Don't tell your wife what?”
Andrew DeLuca appeared before them dressed in his still pretty new dark blue scrubs and pristine white lab coat, carrying a three year old on his shoulders.
“Maya was freaking out,” Andy explained.
“Oh, so nothing has changed since I last saw you two hours ago,” Andrew addressed Maya, bouncing in place to make the little girl currently grabbing the dark curls on his head giggle.
“And what are you doing up there, probie?” Andy asked, smiling at the sleepy little girl.
“She wanted to feel like a big sister, right Stellina?” Andrew prompted his niece.
“The biggest,” the little girl answered.
Maya smiled adoringly at the child, who tapped Andrew's forehead; apparently it was part of a silent language between them that let zio Andrea know she was done riding his shoulders. The moment her little sock covered feet touched the floor, she ran the few steps that separated her from Maya, who leaned forward to grab the child under the armpits, setting her on her lap.
“And where are your shoes, missy?” Maya asked, tickling the small child that leaned her head against the fire captain's chest, apparently very pleased with herself. “You know mamma is not going to be happy about it. And remember what I told you about mamma? We have to be so, so good for her now.”
Stella nodded before reaching out towards his uncle, opening and closing her fists.
“Oh, now you want them!” Andrew joked, before reaching into the pocket of his lab coat and retrieving a tiny pair of yellow vans and handing them to Maya, who opened the velcro straps and proceeded to fit wiggling feet inside the shoes. They were Stella’s favorite shoes, because they were “the color of the stars”, as she had very seriously explained to Maya on more than one occasion.
“Is she still sleeping?” Andrew asked after checking his watch.
“Yeah, they both were when I left the room,” Maya explained, as she finished securing the velcro straps on Stella’s shoes.
“I'm gonna go check on them before rounds start.”
Maya watched as Andrew disappeared down the hallway, a wistful smile on her face. To her right, Andy chuckled, drawing her attention. “What?”
“Nothing. I just can't believe we are here, after everything that we’ve been through.”
“It really feels surreal, doesn't it? Me, married, with two kids.”
“Us, still being friends. You being my captain,” they shared a smile. “I’m really proud of you, Maya.”
Maya smiled, looking at the now sleeping child resting calmly in her arms, thinking about her wife and newborn baby doing the same in a private hospital room nearby. “Sometimes I can’t believe this is my life, you know? Some days I wake up and I look at Carina, and I don’t understand what I did to deserve it.”
Andy looked at her friend holding Stella and smiled.
Almost three years ago, Andy lost her father, and with him all the family she thought she had left. She had almost lost ‘19’ as well, but they had supported her through therapy, and a disciplinary suspension, and with a lot of work Andy had learned she wasn’t alone, and it was at that moment that she had started to heal. Her past errors meant she might never become a fire captain in the future, but she had made her peace with that. She loved ‘19’, she loved her job, and she loved her best friend and the family that had grown in numbers just a few hours ago.
They sat in silence for a few instants, Stella’s rhythmic breathing lulling them into a state of calm before Maya got up from her seat, carefully repositioning the child in her arms to carry her comfortably.
“I’m going back to Carina. Are you staying for visiting hours?” Maya asked her friend.
“If she’s up for visitors then yeah, I would love to meet the tiniest DeLuca-Bishop.”
Maya grinned at the mention of the newborn baby who was, hopefully, sleeping soundly in the same room as her miraculous force of a wife who had been in labor for eight and a half excruciating hours.
She crossed paths with Andrew, who was on his way out of the room with a smile and a promise to be back whenever he had a break. She closed the door slowly behind her, holding Stella easily with just one arm, and turned around to see her wife staring back at her.
“Hey, did Andrew wake you up?” Carina smiled tiredly, closing her eyes as she negated with her head. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here, I stepped out to call Andy,” she hurriedly explained as she walked towards her wife’s bed.
“It’s okay, I haven’t been awake for long. How is she?” Carina asked in a whisper, watching adoringly as Maya set Stella down in the visitor’s chair, covering her up with the starry blanket Carina had insisted they bring with them to the hospital.
“She conked out a few minutes ago. Who knows if she got any sleep while she was with Andrew.”
Maya brushed some curls away from Stella’s face before walking closer to her wife’s bed. She leaned over, landing a soft kiss on Carina’s forehead before the brunette pulled her down by the front of her sweatshirt, puckering her lips. Maya was happy to oblige, pressing a few soft kisses on her wife’s lips before she sat on the edge of the bed, grabbing Carina’s arm, moving it around to inspect the tape keeping the iv line in place.
“How are you feeling? The truth,” she rapidly added before Carina could downplay her pain. “Do I need to ask the nurses for anything?”
“No, I’m good. It’s manageable.” Carina assured her, wetting her lips with her tongue. “But ask me again in an hour or so,” she joked.
“You’re amazing. I’m amazed by you. I still think you should have gone with the epidural, but-”
“Bambina, we’ve been over this.” Carina cut her out, already tired of having the same conversation again. “I only caved the first time because I had been in labor with Stella for fourteen hours and I was exhausted, and scared.”
Maya lowered her gaze, swallowing hard, hating the idea of her wife being in pain for so long.
“I knew this time would be different because I would have you with me.”
Carina was delighted at seeing the blush that formed on her wife’s cheeks when their eyes met. They exchanged smiles, gazing into each other's eyes for a few moments before a knock broke the spell.
Carina looked at the door, smiling when she saw Jo Wilson basically skipping into the room, holding a tablet against her chest.
“Good morning, Doctor DeLuca. How are you feeling? Any pain or anything abnormal we should be concerned about?” Jo asked, walking up to Carina’s bed and smiling at Maya as a form of greeting.
Carina rolled her eyes at her former student, now a fully pledged OBGYN herself, but still acting like the Italian obstetrician was her mentor.
“Wilson, you were between my legs as I screamed bloody murder, I think you can drop the formalities.” Maya pursed her lips at the wording her wife had used, but chose to remain silent. “But no, nothing out of the ordinary,” she explained, as Jo put on a pair of gloves and walked up to the head of the bed.
“Okay, I’m going to check to see if you’re still bleeding.”
Maya got up from the bed and stood in front of the chair containing a sleeping Stella to make sure her view was blocked if she were to suddenly wake up. She watched intently as Jo checked her wife over.
“The bleeding seems to have slowed down significantly. I see the fundal massages have helped.”
“Yeah, those were not fun,” Maya added, still unhappy that she had agreed to take over from the night shift nurses, as per her wife’s request. She had hated seeing Carina in pain, hating even more that she had been the one causing it.
“You did really well, bambina.”
“Well, she did have a good teacher. I would know!” Jo added, as she covered Carina back up, and discarded her gloves before grabbing her tablet once again. “Okay, DeLuca-Bishops! Everything looks great, so I will make sure nobody disturbs you for a while.”
Carina smiled thankfully at Jo, who took a peek at the bassinet near the bed before leaving them alone in the hospital room once again.
“Thank you for taking care of me. Everything was so much easier and bearable this time around, and it was thanks to you. I love you.”
“I love you.” Maya leaned over, cradling her wife’s face before kissing her deeply. “Thank you for the life we have.”
They exchanged a few more kisses before leaning their foreheads together, lost in each other’s eyes, so bright and full of love and gratitude. It wasn’t long before Stella started stirring, forcing them to separate as the little girl woke up, her unruly hair sticking out in all directions, making them laugh.
“Buongiorno, cucciola,” greeted Carina with a smile.
“Hey, are you awake, awake?” Maya asked the little girl, lifting her up from the chair so she could sit on the bed and be greeted by her mamma with kisses. Stella nodded, leaning back against Carina’s shoulder.
Carina straightened her daughter’s clothes as she watched Maya carefully grab the baby from the bassinet before walking around to their side of the bed and sitting on the edge. Maya angled her body so a very curious Stella could see the baby’s face.
“Okay, baby. Meet your sister, Isabella.”
“Ciao, ‘sbella.”
Carina grinned as her three year old struggled to pronounce the name correctly. She looked across at Maya, at the look of total adoration in her clear blue eyes –the bluest eyes she had ever seen– and Carina could swear she fell in love with her wife at that moment, all over again.
buongiorno, cucciola = good morning, puppy
ciaco = hello