Let Me Carry You (Carry You Home)

3: The Plunge

TW: Suicide

———

There was a quote that Maya heard once from Meredith Grey that seemed to hit close to home.

Just when we think we've figured things out, the universe throws us a curveball. So we have to improvise. We find happiness in unexpected places. We find our way back to the things that matter the most. The universe is funny that way, sometimes it just has a way of making sure we wind up exactly where we belong.

Maya found it fascinating, and the simplicity of it really resonated with her.

She could see herself within those words, within that realm. She'd been thrown dozens of curveballs in her life, so many setbacks that she thought would be the end of her life as she knew it.

In the weeks that passed since she'd seen Sarah last, Maya thought about that quote. Was this another curveball? Would she ever get some sort of explanation as to why this felt like the end of her world? Would she know why this one call, that one girl, seemed to mean so much to her?

Maya tried to get Sarah out of her mind, but she just couldn't. There was something about the teenager that Maya just couldn't shake. She wanted to wrap her arms around that poor girl and protect her from the pain she was in. But, she was just a random girl, and Maya couldn't afford to get attached. If she got attached to every victim they came across, then she wouldn't be able to do the job very well.

When nothing else worked, not talking to Diane, not trying to self-soothe, not trying to contact PD to see if Sarah had been found (which they refused to tell her), Maya found herself repeating the catchphrase that was pounded into her for eighteen very long years.

"Hey, snap out of it. Eyes forward," She whispered to herself.

That night, as she listened to Carina's soft snores next to her, Maya's mind returned to the girl she saw that night in the snow and wondered how she was doing.

Little did she know, Maya would find out soon...

———

The next morning, Maya was awoken by several loud knocks on her front door.

It was her day off, and all Maya wanted to do was sleep, but apparently, she couldn't have that luxury. Groaning, she got up from her very comfortable bed, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes and opened the front door. Her two best friends, Victoria Hughes and Andy Herrera came walking in to the house, seeming equally cheerful and energetic.

"Morning, sleepyhead! We're here to take you out for breakfast!" Vic sang, ever the optimist.

With a sigh, Maya shook her head, still groggy from being recently awoken. "I don't eat breakfast, I make a protein shake unless Carina makes-"

"Hush. Let us do this, Maya. We are going on a girls date out for breakfast," Andy insisted gently, putting her hand on Maya's shoulder.

There was a moment of indecision before Maya folded. She needed something to look forward to, some damned happiness for a change, and so she nodded, a small grin spreading across her sleep-lined face. Vic erupted into enthusiastic cheers, while Andy smiled back, nodding in approvement.

"Just let me get dressed!" Maya exclaimed, going back into her bedroom and closed the door, while Andy and Vic exchanged a worried look.

Over the last couple weeks, Maya hadn't been herself. She tried to hide it, but her friends, the team, could see right through her. They know that she couldn't stop thinking about that crash, and that girl. It was a tough call, and it was beyond unfortunate that the girl had escaped. According to the news they'd gotten last night, Seattle PD had no luck finding her, and had since filed a missing's persons report, all of which weighed heavily on Maya and the team. They'd all spent time to cheer her up, but there was just something about that girl that Maya kept thinking back on.