Let Me Carry You (Carry You Home)

23: To Build A Home

There were only a few moments that took Carina by surprise. She'd been through a lot in her life, living with her father, who was manic a majority of her life, and his decisions weren't always predictable. As well, being a doctor meant seeing and experiencing a lot of strange things. Carina was used to unpredictability, but that scale of surprises had changed when she and Maya had become parents.

Parenting was the toughest job in the world. Even harder than being a first responder, in Maya and Carina's opinion. It was beyond rewarding, yet filled with enough stressors to make their hair turn grey. Each stage of life brought with it challenges and new experiences, but it was one that neither Maya or Carina would exchange for the world.

But, what Maya had just relayed, had Carina's heart skipping a beat, her jaw dropping. She and Maya had a foster care license, but from the research they'd done, it could take two years to get their first placement offer. Sarah coming into their lives as an emergency case had disrupted that statistical norm, but here they were, getting a call to take in someone.

Maya's words echoed throughout the living room, stunning the group into silence. Carina stood still, staring at her girlfriend in disbelief while Sarah felt frozen with surprise. Maya continued to speak, explaining the details that the social worker had told her.

"So, the little girl was rescued from an abusive home. She's at the hospital now, and will be there for a couple days for observation. They need a placement for her where there's no men, but even women are a trigger for her, too. She needs somewhere where her carers will be patient and loving. From what they told me, she's essentially non-verbal. She's been neglected for a long time, and based off of Sarah's progress she's made with us, CPS recommended us,"

It was absolutely unimaginable to think of what this little girl, this barely five-year-old girl, had gone through.

"Oh, that poor bambina," Carina murmured, her eyes filling with tears. One thing she'd learned as a doctor, as heartbreaking as it was, is that some people should not be allowed to be parents. Grey-Sloan had seen children being exposed to horrific environments by their own parents, time and time again.

"Carina, I'm going to be honest, this is going to be incredibly challenging. Even the police don't know the extent of the damage done to this girl. All they told me is that she's got a sheet of health issues, and that they need no men in the house for her placement. Neither of us are specialists, and from what the social worker on the phone said, she is going to need a ton of TLC. Someone will have to stay home with her at all times, and we'll need to coordinate with at least a couple of specialists to help us," Maya emphasized.

Silence filled the room for a heartbeat.

"Okay. Maya, what are you thinking? I know this will be hard if we choose to do it, but we took in Sarah. We had no experience being parents when we decided to open our home up, and we have learned along the way. I am not underplaying how difficult this will be, but if we want to, I believe that we can do it," Carina said.

"And you both are great parents," Sarah interjected, and both moms turned to her.

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to interrupt, but just like Mamma said, you had no experience parenting and you have provided me with a home absolutely filled with support and healing. Don't sell yourselves short on that. You may not have the experience, but you have the capability of love,"

"More than anything, I want to be able to provide for this girl, but I'm worried we won't be enough, or what she needs. I don't want to mess her up like my dad messed me up," Maya admitted tearfully. Sarah's very hands itched to hug Maya, to hold her and promise her that she was more than she gave herself credit for, but knew that this was something Carina was handling, so she stayed seated as Carina took Maya in her arms.