We Have a Problem

Part 11

"Thank you so much for coming," Carina said, opening the door for Travis.

"Of course," the firefighter said, coming in, "How are they?"

"Vic has been sleeping for three days straight, except for meals," Carina sighed, "And Maya is still exhausted. She might try to tell you she is fine, but she almost passed out making pancakes two days ago, and last night, she fell asleep using the bathroom."

"I will keep an eye on both of them," Travis nodded, "And I might sleep because we had a long call last night."

"Is everyone ok?" Carina asked, grabbing her purse.

"Oh, yeah," Travis nodded, "It wasn't even a fire. Did Maya tell you about the crazy cult guy?"

"The one who thought he could fly?" Carina asked, "Si."

"Well, we got called back out there," Travis said, "This time, there were three people trying to "fly" and a bunch of other stupid stuff. The biggest injury was a guy who broke his leg jumping off a broken tree. It just made for a long night."

"Well, the guest room is open," Carina said, "And I think I washed the sheets after Andy was here."

"Thanks," Travis nodded.

"Thank you," Carina said, "I have a 12 hour shift today, so I should be back by 9 tonight. There is a bunch of food in the fridge. Help yourself to whatever. Maya will probably fight you on eating. Just text me if you need help convincing her to."

"Will do," Travis nodded, "Have a good day at work."

"Text or call if you need anything or if anything happens," Carina said, clearly nervous about leaving.

It was then that it dawned on Travis just how terrifying everything must have been for Carina, seeing Maya as sick as she was, terrified she might lose her, and also that this was probably the first time she had left Maya since everything happened.

"I've got them," Travis reassured, putting a hand on Carina's shoulder, "I've got her. She is going to be fine."

Carina nodded, blinking the tears out of her eyes, "Grazie, Travis."

"I'll have my phone on all day if you need updates," Travis said, offering her a smile, "Now go."

Carina ducked into their bedroom one more time, pressing a kiss to Maya's forehead, smiling as the blue eyes fluttered open a little.

"I am going to work," Carina said, brushing a piece of blonde hair off her forehead, making a mental note to help Maya shower the following day because her hair was getting greasy, "Travis is here, and I am just a text away. Love you."

"Love you too," Maya mumbled, pushing herself up a little to give Carina a proper kiss.

"Go back to sleep," Carina said, rubbing her back as Maya laid back down.

After another few seconds, Carina headed out of the apartment after saying one final goodbye to Travis.

The firefighter checked on his best friend, finding her out cold. He then went down the hall into the guest room, collapsing into the bed.

About four hours later, Travis woke up, feeling refreshed and hungry. He got up, going into the kitchen and pulling out some of Carina's soup, actually shocked at how much food was in the fridge. However, as he put the soup in a pot to heat up, he remembered Maya complaining about how much cooking Carina had done after she had first moved in, when the pandemic in Italy was raging and Carina was losing family members every other week, and he realized cooking was an outlet for her stress.