our daughter (marina fanfic)

Chapter 19

There is a 5-alarm fire at a large residential building. They are calling all stations in, including 19 and Maya. Apparently, it's bad"

Carina's POV

"What"

"No", I heard my daughter say as I was still processing the information in my own brain. 

Maya's been in a 5-alarm fire several times before. It doesn't get easier for Olivia and me though. A part of me is relieved to know that she's not in the frontline to go in because now she's captain, but that has never stopped her stubbornness before to do something reckless. And the fire being in a residential building, I know she's more prone to go to the extreme to save other people. 

When Olivia was five, and Maya had to go to the hospital for smoke inhalation, she suddenly became afraid of her mom's job. Something that she thought was super cool and admiring, became scary overnight. We repeatedly had to explain to our daughter the protective gear Maya wears to work and the fact that she's trained to do this, but still, the girl was clinging onto her mom whenever she had to go to work, and asking when she'd be home every 15 minutes. But some time after when new incidents didn't happen again, Olivia wasn't as scared anymore. 

I snapped back to reality and I saw my daughter being restless. I saw how her eyes glanced over and she was imagining all the scenarios in her head. 

"Bambina, I'm sure everything's okay. Nowadays she mostly watches over and gives orders. There are multiple stations working, she's not there alone, and most likely she'll not go in.  She'll be okay", I tried to comfort the girl, but I was worried internally. 

"Yeah..", she replied unconvincingly. She's never been a good liar. 

"Can we just quickly check the news? Just to see she's okay?", she pleaded. 

"No bella, you know this. It's never good for us to watch the news when there's a big fire. It'll just make you worry more. I'll tell you if there are any updates from your mom okay", I explained. 

"Do you still want to watch the movie? It could distract you for a bit?", I added. 

Olivia nodded and I opened my arms, so she came to sit next to me on the couch. She buried her head on my chest and kept her arms wrapped around my waist. We watched the movie in silence, and I noticed from time to time her being distracted. 

"I'm gonna go to bed", Olivia announced after the credits started rolling. 

"Okay. If you need anything, you know where to find me. And bambina, try not to psych yourself out, your mom is probably home soon", I told her. 

She shrugged her shoulders and got upstairs, so I started cleaning the kitchen. 

When I met Maya and we got married, I had to accept the nature of her job. I was always so worried at first, but I knew Maya always tried to make it home. After we had Olivia, I couldn't show the worry on my face anymore, but I also knew that at that moment Maya had started being more careful. Nowadays, her regular days didn't stress me anymore, but the 5-alarm fires still scared me. They didn't get them often, but those had been a cause of several deaths of first responders, so I was always on edge when those calls happened. 

I looked at the clock and noticed it was getting late, so I turned off the lights and went upstairs to our bedroom. Before climbing under the covers, I still tried calling Maya, but it went straight to voicemail. I texted Andy asking for updates, but I didn't get a reply. I placed my head onto the pillow and looked at the empty space next to me. I wished my wife could be lying next to me, sleeping peacefully and me knowing she was safe. It took me all my self-discipline not to check the news about the situation, and slowly I started to fall asleep.