be safe, bambina

chapter 6

It's been a few weeks since Maya had her hemorrhagic stroke and she has seemed to be doing a lot better than even Dr. Shepard had expected.

Though she would wince from the pain of getting out of the bed, she could walk around the corner and all the way to the kitchen fairly well and could sit down at the stool, get up and walk back to the bedroom. She was also showering pretty well, with Carina's help, of course.

It's progress, Carina thought. Any progress is good progress. She just wouldn't talk about the fire or even her pain. Maya just says "she's fine" but what if she's really not okay?

Carina tried to be as patient with her wife as she possibly could. Though she was one to temper easily, she pushed that aside for the time being because all she wanted was for her wife to recover at her own pace.

"Babe?" Maya called from the bedroom. "I have to go to the bathroom. Can you help me please?"

As Carina walked into the bedroom, she saw her wife struggling on the floor, looking like she had just fallen out of the bed.

"Bambina, what happened?"

"I tried to do it on my own and I fell, I should be okay though," Maya said back, surprisingly calm.

"Bambina, Shepard said you're going to need help for quite some time, there's nothing wrong with continuing to a-"

"Carina, I wanted to try and do it alone, is there something wrong with that? Look at me, I am fine," she said, wiggling her fingers and toes. "You need to go out and do something for yourself instead of wasting all of your time helping me get up, shower, piss and eat."

"Bambina, I just wanted to help you and make sure you're safe," Carina said with tears filling in her eyes. "I have been really patient with you because all I want is for you to recover the way you are supposed to. I like being around you this much and I didn't realize that having to help you all the time was making you frustrated."

She got Maya up from the ground and helped her to the bathroom, still feeling like they were on eggshells. This time she moved Maya to the couch in the living room rather than the bedroom.

"A change of space may help you, Maya. Can I make you tea or bring you a book or something?"

"No, Carina, I am fine."

"Okay, because you say you're fine, I am going to the grocery store and you can call me if you need something," she replied.

Now her patience was running thin.

As she walked out of the apartment, she slightly slammed the door on accident, wanting to open it back up and close it the normal way, but she needed that small burst to let her anger out, just not at Maya, who continued to sit on the sofa with worry in her eyes.

Great, Maya. Look what you did. You pushed her away, just like you pushed Miller away. She is your wife and she wants nothing but the best for you and you talked to her like her help meant nothing to you.

As Carina was in the car she decided to call both Andy and Shepard to give them an update.

"She winces in pain but won't yell out in pain, I can see tears in her eyes, but she won't talk to me about the fire, and she says that she is fine, but I know better," Carina said. "She's just pushing me away and all I want to do is help. She is frustrated that she needs help to do just about everything right now, so much so that she started to walk from the bedroom to the bathroom without asking for help and she fell."

"She needs to be seen right away if she fell...she may seem alright but there could be a small issue. She needs to come in and at least get scans," Shepard said.

"Carina I will meet you both there," Andy said.