Maya smiled to herself as she walked down the stairs from the beanery. Her and Carina's 2nd date was tonight, and she was looking forward to it.
"Hey, kiddo." A voice rang out, making Maya freeze instantly. She looked over to the benches meant for civilians and saw Lane.
"Dad. What-what are you doing here?" Maya asked, a nervous feeling coming over her. "I heard you had a little 'nervous breakdown'." Lane explained, using air quotes.
"I, uh, I had an incident but I'm getting better." The firefighter replied simply, wanting him to leave as soon as possible.
"What happened to you? The daughter I raised isn't a pathetic loser who gets admitted to the psych ward." Lane snapped, walking over to her.
Maya inhaled shakily. She didn't want Lane knowing about her getting admitted for this exact reason.
"It's your fault." Maya mumbled, not making eye contact as the man stepped within two feet of her.
"Excuse me?" Lane asked menacingly. "You heard me. You're the reason I'm broken. You broke me the second you ever put me on a track." Maya said, gaining confidence slowly. It felt good to get this out.
"I made you who you are, young lady. You would be nothing without me." The older man scoffed.
"I would've been a lot better off without you. I'm in therapy now. Yeah, twice a week. I'm trying to repair what you broke, and it would really help if you stopped showing up to my workplace and insulting me." Maya replied, finally looking into Lane's cold, icy blue eyes.
Lane rolled his eyes. "You're just like your brother. A waste of space on this planet."
"Don't talk about him like that!" Maya shouted, angry, getting in his face. She was scared, yes, but she wasn't going to let him talk bad about Mason.
"Do not raise your voice at me!" Lane growled, shoving Maya away and to the ground.
Hearing the raise voices, Jack and Andy came running down the stairs, Vic, Theo, and Travis all behind.
Jack, Theo and Travis were quick to restrain Lane, and Andy and Vic went straight to Maya's side, who got up quickly.
"Maya? Are you okay? Did you hit your head or anything?" Andy asked, looking over the blonde firefighter and seeing no physical damage.
Maya couldn't speak. She couldn't move. Flashbacks of thrown plates and freezing water being dumped on her head took over, and she was stuck.
"Vic, we could be dealing with some kind of PTSD episode." Andy said quietly. Vic looked at her and agreed. After all, she was on the Crisis One team and had seen all kinds of mental health things.
The men kicked Lane out of the station, not without a few threats to never come back, and returned back inside.
"Let's get her to the bunks maybe, lay her down." Vic suggested.
They managed to get Maya under the covers in a bunk, and quietly debated what to do. "Someone needs to call Carina. If anyone can get her out of this, it's her. We can try while she gets here, but either way Carina needs to know." Andy said first.
"Andy, you're closest with her. Just try to talk her quietly and softly and maybe that will pull her out of it." Vic said.
The latina nodded and walked back over to where Maya was laying and kneeled down so she was eye level with her.
"Maya, it's me, Andy. You're at the station and you're safe, okay? We called Carina and she's on her way. Lane's gone, and he isn't coming back." Andy said soothingly to her friend. No response.
Maya just stared absently into the distance, however her body was shaking quite a bit.
Andy looked back to the other firefighters and shook her head. She knew that none of them would be able to help Maya right now.
"Vic, what is going on?" Carina's voice asked as the Italian saw the group of people huddled outside of the bunk door.
"Maya's dad showed up. They were yelling and he pushed her and we think she's in some kind of PTSD episode." Vic explained quickly.
"We've tried, but she's shaking and she hasn't said a word since it happened. We thought you could get her out of it."
Carina didn't respond, only pushing past Maya's coworkers and quietly shutting the door behind her.
Her heart nearly broke when she saw Maya's eyes, glassed over and her physically trembling body.
"Hi, Maya." Carina said softly as she slid into the small bunk next to her wife. "I'm going to hold you now, okay? It's me, bella."
Carina wrapped her arms around Maya's shaking body, pulling her close to her chest. "Come back to me, bambina. I've got you. You're safe and everything is okay." She murmured, feeling Maya start to react to her tight hold and relax slightly.
Carina continued to whisper quiet assurances into Maya's ears, and eventually Maya's shaking ceased completely.
"Are you back with me, my love?" Carina asked, drawing lazy circles on Maya's stomach. "Mhm." Maya mumbled, turning around so she was facing her wife.
"There you are." The Italian smiled, looking into Maya's ocean blue eyes. "I'm okay." Maya said, inhaling and exhaling shakily.
"You're okay." Carina repeated, moving a strand of hair out of Maya's face. "Can we stay here for a few more minutes?" The firefighter asked shyly.
"Of course, bambina." Carina said, kissing Maya's forehead before bringing Maya's head to rest in the crook of her shoulder.
