I Choose You

Chapter 1

May 2, 2011 Seattle, WA

 A young Maya Bishop sits quietly glued to her tv screen with a sense of pride. The faint sound of a news anchor announcing the take down of one of the worlds most wanted terrorists Bin Laden.

June 13, 2014 San Diego, CA

Maya wakes up to the sound of her drill sergeant yelling at everyone to get out of bed and into uniform for their morning PT. A sleepy Maya and battle buddy Stefanie quickly jump to their feet and make their beds before getting into their PT uniforms. 

"Still full of that American pride Maya?"

Maya still waking up "Fuck off" she says laughing. 

The pair finished getting into their uniforms and lined up for roll call. 

August 10, 2019 Baghdad, Iraq

"Lieutenant Bishop left or right?'

"Right" Lieutenant Bishop gave her orders to her now best friend and battle buddy Stefanie. They made their way to the end of the hall and turned right, the Lieutenant held back to radio in their location and direction the squad was heading towards. Just as Maya finished giving an update to HQ thats when she heard the sound of a bomb exploding and the screams of her squad that weren't instantly killed by the explosion.  

The team was led right into a trap. No one could have guessed the outcome, but unbeknownst to Maya both directions led her squad directly into a gruesome yet quick death. In an instant everything changed, not only was most of Mayas squad killed but she was left vulnerable with her position exposed to the enemy. She continued down the hall to see the remains of her team, thats when she saw the lifeless body of her best friend Stefanie. 

Maya and Stefanies' friendship was that of what we see in movies. They would spend every moment together, holidays and all. It was to the point to where both families thought they were a couple but only Maya was into women and even then she saw Stefanie as her sister. Maya knelt down next to her best friends lifeless body and held her hand, unable to release any sort of emotion. Maya then yanked Stefanies dog tags and put them in her pocket, she then quickly left knowing that her position was now compromised. She radioed back to HQ informing them that her entire team was taken out, leaving her as the lone surviver. 

August 10, 2020 Seattle, WA

Maya sat at the bar drinking all the whiskey she could possibly get her hands on. She was familiar with this bar as she would normally come here after a long shift with her new team. Three months after the death of her best friend Maya left the marines and came back home to seek out another career that still allowed her to help others. She became a firefighter, she was now with station 19. Maya loved everything about this job, it gave her that adrenaline rush she loved and it kept her mind busy. She made amazing friends and would spend her days off with them except today. Today was one day that Maya was dreading, it the one year anniversary of her best friends death. She knew she could talk to her new friends about her troubles and often would talk about her time in the military but this was the one thing she could not stomach to share.  

"Hey there" Maya was taken away from her thoughts as she saw a beautiful Italian women sit next to her. 

"Oh wo- hi" Maya said as she felt her cheeks burning up. For that split second all of the pain that Maya felt disappeared. It had been so long since she felt like she was finally at peace and she found it intriguing that with just a simple hello she felt at peace. 

"Is that seat taken" the Italian women asked.

"Only by you" she said with a cheeky smile.

"I like your confidence" said the Italian. "It really highlights someones pride"