Rings

I am Always Right

Even though the demotion was a difficult transition for the entire team, Maya was secretly grateful to be back in action. She hadn't even realized her 'firegasm' was gone until she was in the heat of everything, fighting blazes and helping people with her own hands and instead of giving orders for someone else to handle it.

The rush of adrenaline felt good as she ran back into the blazing building. There was a partially collapsed school building, normally with a structure in its shape they would take more precautions, but there were kids inside. They would do whatever it took to get every last one of them out.

Maya found a little girl hiding in a second-floor classroom curled up in the corner. She was the only one in the entire room, and Maya could read the terror spread all over her face.

"Hi, I'm Maya, and I'm a firefighter. I'm here to help you. What's your name?"

The little girl sat up, and Maya guessed she was about seven, she went to talk, but the smoke was heavy in her lungs as she started coughing. Maya rushed to her side, kneeling and taking off her thick gloves to help the girl easier. She pulled off her SCBA and held it up to the girl's face to let her catch her breath.

"You're going to be okay," Maya said as she put the mask back on herself. "Can you tell me your name now?"

"Nina."

"Okay, Nina, I'm going to carry you out now. I want you to hold on tight and keep your eyes closed. Can you do that for me?"

Nina wrapped her arms around Maya's neck, and Maya stood up and made her way out to the stairs. The smoke was thick, and Maya knew she had to move fast, so Nina didn't breathe too much of it in, but it wasn't easy to see exactly where she was going.

Maya felt along the wall to help guide her, part of her regretted not putting her gloves back on, but it was too late now as her hand traced along the hot structure.

Halfway down, Nina started to choke on all the smoke again. Maya wanted to comfort the scared little girl but knew getting them out was her number one priority. Picking up her pace, Maya misstepped. Her hand got snagged on the wall as she fell back on the stairs.

Maya cursed herself in her head. Now her back was killing her, and Nina was probably even more scared than she already was. Maya pushed through the pain and made it safely out of the school with Nina still clinging to her body.

Even though Maya protested, Beckett sent Maya along with Nina to Grey Sloan to get checked out.

On the ride over, Maya texted Carina that she was coming to give her a heads up, so her wife didn't freak out when someone said she was in the pit. When they arrived, Carina was waiting for her at the ambulance bay.

"What's wrong? Are you okay?" Carina frantically looked Maya over. It was unusual for her to be the one bringing a patient to the hospital.

"I fell pretty hard on my back, but that's it," Maya said, handing Nina off to the doctors on staff.

Carina was too concerned to notice her fully; she kept looking Maya up and down in case she was hiding something more concerning. Then she saw Maya's left hand covered in blood.

"Bambina, your hand! Let me see," Carina lightly grabbed Maya's wrist and pulled her inside where she could better assess Maya's wound.

"I felt a pinch or something when I fell. The wall must have been more jagged than I thought."

Carina wiped away most of the blood and started laughing when she saw that it was all coming from a small cut on the inside of Maya's ring finger.

"I don't know why you are bleeding so much, but you are going to be fine. Just a little scratch."

"Hey- That is more than a scratch. Look at that thing; I need stitches!"

"Eh, one stitch," Carina shrugged as she fetched all the supplies to sew up Maya's cut.

"Oh, shit," Maya whispered, more to herself than anything.

"What, scared of a little suture?" Carina teased. Since Maya always put on such an 'I'm badass who's not scared of anything' front, she always found it amusing when she learned about Maya's fears.

"No!" Maya's voice went squeaky with offense. "I was going to say you were right. The ring must have got snagged when I fell and broke off. I would probably be in a lot more pain right now if the gold one got ripped off, huh?"

"Oh, definitely," Carina smiled, "and I am always right."

"Yeah, you kind of are."

Carina prepped Maya's finger for the sutures and kept her talking to distract her from the discomfort. "You aren't going to be able to wear your ring for a while."

"Excuse me?"

"Look only one; I am always right," Carina said proudly. "You don't want it bothering the suture, and your finger is probably going to swell, so it won't fit anyways."

"That hurts me more than my back. What am I supposed to do without it?"

"Right, your back. Turn around, and I'll check it out."

"Carina. What about my ring?"

"Sometimes you can really only focus on one thing; you know that? We will worry about that later. First, let's make sure you are okay."