Maya's Next Step

Part 96

Maya POV

"Carina," I gasped.

"Shh bellina I'm here," she said softly, reaching out a hand to hold the side of my face.

"Elva, where.." I panted.

"She's here, I've got her bella," she whispered, gesturing to a sleeping Elva in her free arm.

"You were thrashing about a bit, I scooped her up," she explained, taking her hand back to help her cradle Elva.

I nodded, still trying to catch my breath.

"I've got her, she's alright," Carina repeated.

I reached my hand out to stroke Elva's arm slightly.

"Are you okay?" Carina asked seriously, sitting down on the bed with Elva still in her arms.

"Yeah, just a bad dream," I nodded.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, still not quite believing she was in front of me.

"I booked the first flight I could the moment I found out you were hurt," she said, tracing a finger over Elva's cheek.

"But when we spoke..?" I began.

"I didn't want to stress you out or for you to try and convince me otherwise," she smiled sadly.

"But your dad?" I said, sitting up more now.

"He's a stubborn, grown man who will do wha the wants regardless of what country I'm in," she said.

"He's intelligent so I'm hoping he will soon see sense," she added.

"You didn't have to fly back," I told her, reaching out to touch her arm.

"I needed to see for myself that you were okay. I've never been more terrified than getting that call from Andrea," Carina said sadly.

"And 48 hours away from you and the bambina was more than enough. I don't ever want to be apart that long," she said, a tear escaping.

"I'm sorry I scared you," I said softly, leaning forward to wipe her cheek.

"You were just doing your job bellina, you saved a little girl," she said, holding Elva closely.

"She'll be so excited when she wakes up," I smiled, nodding my head to our own little girl.

"How was she really?" Carina asked.

"So unsettled," I sighed.

"But I think she would've settled down if it weren't for me running into a fire," I smirked.

"Poor bambina," Carina whispered.

"My love?" I said, smiling as she looked up from Elva towards me.

"You've still not kissed me," I pouted.

"Let me do something to fix that," she grinned, placing Elva gently down on the other side of the bed.

I shuffled into the middle, allowing Carina to climb into bed beside me.

"Come here bella," she instructed, holding my face in both of her hands and pulling me towards her.

My lips met hers and it was like she'd never been away. She was home, exactly where she belonged.

"Hmmm, I missed that," I smiling as we broke apart.

"I've missed other things too," she winked, tracing her fingers up my arm.

"We'll have to wait until we don't have a little girl with us for that," I laughed quietly.