Maya's Next Step

Part 3

Maya's POV

"Elva!"

"Elva!"

"Elva shout out to me sweetheart!"

I keep calling her name as I make my way through the burning house.
Everywhere I turn there is more and more smoke. If this girl is alive she'll need to go straight to hospital. God I hope I get to her in time.

"Bishop! What's the situation?" Herrera asks through the radio.

"I'm making my way up the first stairs. Where's the stairs to the attic?"

"Take a left at the top of the first flight. Straight down the corridor, up the stairs, there's only one door. Apparently it's locked but the fire should've weakened it enough for you to kick it down. And Bishop, hurry!" Gibson instructed.

Following his instructions, I made my way through the house. Reaching the attic door, I don't even bother trying the handle. Quickly kicking it down, I make my way into the room. It's pitch black, even with half the roof caved in.

"Elva! Elva can you hear me?" I shout

I start looking around, there's so much old furniture and boxes of junk in here.

"Elva!" I call again

Finally I hear a cough. My head turns towards the sound. There's a tiny gap between a huge wardrobe, it's fallen on top of other pieces of furniture. Getting down on my hands and knees, I crawl over towards the gap.

"Elva, sweetie can you hear me?"

I hear another cough and make my way closer. As I do, there's another roof collapse, I throw one arm over my head and the rest of my body towards Elva in the hope of protecting her.

"Bishop, check in." I hear on the radio.

"I'm here. I've found her. She's trapped"

Through the smoke, I can finally see the tiny frame of a young girl. Her knees are pulled into her chest as she clutches a bear.

"Hey sweetie, my names Maya. I'm a firefighter, I'm gonna get you out of here." I reach my arm out to try and pull her from the gap but she flinches away from me clearly terrified.

"Sweetie I'm not gonna hurt you, I'm here to help you. I need you to try and trust me okay," I say softly.

"Scared," she says, struggling to breath.

"I know and it's okay to be scared but I know we're gonna be okay. I need you to try and be really brave so I can get you and your bear outside."

"Bishop you need to get out before the stairs go as well as the roof!" I hear Herrera shout.

Realising I'm short of time, I make a move.

"I'm gonna take hold of you now okay, I need you to tuck your head into my chest so your face is hidden. Think you can do that for me?"

She slowly nods her head and trembling, makes her way towards me. I open my arms for her and breath a sigh of relief when she allows me to pick her up. I hold her tightly to my chest and turn back towards the attic door. Even with my arms tightly wrapped around the girl, I can feel her shaking as I quickly race back down through the house. When I eventually get us out I can see another unit has arrived and is working on getting the fire out. I see the relief on my teams faces as I run towards the AID car. I try to put Elva down on a gurney but her small hands are gripping me tightly.

"Shhh Elva sweetheart we need to get you checked out." 

Warren tries to get her off me and onto the gurney but she just won't have it and flinches away from him.

"No please," she cries out.

I suddenly remember that there are a lot more people involved in this fire. Turning around, I see the group of kids who were already out when we arrived looking relieved. Two adults and the 4 rescued kids weren't here. Marie was stood glaring over at us.

"Where're the other kids?" I asked

"Aid cars took them to Grey Sloan. Other two adults went with them as they're minors. That ones not stopped screaming at those kids for telling us about her. Somethings not right here Maya" Andy told me, concern all over her face.

I looked down at Elva, still in my arms, who was coughing and struggling to breath. Then looked back at Andy.

"I know," I said.

"Okay Elva sweetie, you're finding it hard to breath because of all the smoke. You need to let us help you, the oxygen will help you breath."

"Not him." She cried, gesturing to Warren.

Travis took the mask off Warren and tried to put it on Elva. Again she pushed away from them and further into me.
With one arm around Elva, I pulled my mask and jacket of. I sat on the gurney and instinctively pulled her so she was sat between my legs. I took the oxygen mask off Travis and tried to hold it to Elva's mouth.

"No," she cried, tears pouring down her cheeks.

"Shhh little one, it will help you. I know it's not nice on your face but you need to take big breaths" Andy said softly, taking hold of her hand. Surprisingly she didn't pull away.

"Just leave her. For heavens sake she's just being dramatic!" 
I looked up to see Marie marching across the lawn towards us.

"Excuse me ma'am, but we'll be the judge of whether she needs medical treatment." Gibson said moving in front of the gurney.

"She's fine, look. Elva come here. Show them you're fine" she said threateningly.

Elva made to move out of my arms and tried to get up.

"Shhh no no you're staying here Elva," I whispered to her. Pushing her head back down onto my chest and holding the mask so she could breath.

She was shaking, still holding her bear and still struggling to breath.

"Okay we need to get her to Grey Sloan, I'm worried about her breathing. The other unit can handle the remaining fire. It's under control now." I instructed.

"NO, I told you. She stays here." Marie yelled.

Reluctantly I moved away from the gurney and towards Marie. As I moved away, I heard Elva whimper at the loss of contact.

"And I told you earlier that I am in charge of this scene. We're taking her to get checked out." My tone of voice made it clear that in this moment, nobody should mess with me.

"Hughes, Miller, Montgomery, finish up here and head back to the station. Herrera, Gibson I'd like a word." I ordered.

Andy and Jack followed me so we could talk without being overheard.
"There's clearly something going on here. I want you to check over the kids and try and do a little digging. The second one of the kids says something I want it reporting. I'm going with Elva to the hospital."

"Not like you to get attached to kids Bishop," Gibson smirked.

"I'm doing my job Gibson. She's a minor and clearly needs someone with her," I defended.

"Okay Maya go, we'll handle it here and keep you updated," Andy said kindly.

I turned and ran back over to Elva, who was still struggling to breath normally and fighting the oxygen mask.

"Warren I'm jumping in with you. Let's go"

We got Elva into the back of the ambulance, her eyes were rapidly moving trying to figure out what was going on.

"Okay focus on me Elva, I've got you," I smiled.

"Just look at me and take nice big breaths."

I knew when we arrived at the hospital the doctors would instantly take over. They would definitely need space to work and do their job but I was starting to worry about how Elva would react. She didn't react well to the boys trying to put a mask on her. She did let Andy old her hand though.
Quickly, I took out my phone and started to message Carina. I gave her a brief overview and asked her to make sure a female doctor was there on our arrival. She replied almost instantly with
"I'm free at the moment. Heading down now, I'll be there."
I smiled and let out a breath, knowing Elva was going to be in good hands.