Home is wherever i'm with you

And if you're homesick, give me your hand and i'll hold it

"it hurts." Maya gasped out. "What hurts, Bambina?" "Brea..thing." Maya was paniking which only agravated her symptoms. "Breathe. My love. It will be okay, we are almost there." Carina was worried sick. Mayas breathing got gradually worse and her fingertips were turning blue. Carina drove infront of the ER and opened the door. "You can't.." an intern yelled. "I can. My wife can't breath. She has cancer so get her inside, on oxygen and page oncology." Carina was so worried it sounded meaner than she wanted.

The intern got Maya on a gurney and Dr. Hunt came over and pushed her in an ER-Bay. "Get her on 4l of O2."  He yelled. "Carina, you need to drive your car away." "Okay. Please take good car of her." "I promise." "I love you, Bambina. I'll be right back."

Carina drove to the parking lot and practicaly ran inside.
"I have sent her to get a chest x-ray." Dr. Hunt said and Carina nodded and ran down to radiology.

When they wheeled Maya back out she was intubated and sedated. "Bambina." Carina gasped. "Her oxygen dropped, she wasn't breathing on her own anymore." Dr. Lindner said.  "Why?" "She has severe pneumonia." "How? She wasn't even coughing yesterday." "She has no immunsystem to fight it. The infection could spread without any defence." "What are you going to do?" Carina strocked Mayas hand as she walked next to her. Dr. Lindner and an Intern wer pushing her stretcher to a room on the ICU. "We'll put her under quaratine. She can't take any more germs or infections." "Okay. I am going to go scrub and get gowned. I want to be with her." "Normaly No. But you are a doctor. So i'll allow it." "Thank you, Dr. Lindner." Carinas phone rang. It was Amelia. "Hey. I saw Mayas name on the ER. Board. What happend?" "She struggled to breath. When we came here, they had to intubate her. She has severe pneumonia. She isn't breathing on her own. Amelia. I can't loose her i can't live without her." "Oh. I am so sorry. Do you want we to come to the ICU?" "Yes, Please. Thank you." "Breathe. She will be okay. I am right there." Carina slid down the wall and cryed.

"Hey. Carina. Breathe. Breathe." Amelia said and lowered herself next to her friend. "She can't die.... I need...her...she ca... can't die.... Can't... The girls... No..she ca..can't d..die." "She will not die." Amelia hugged Carina tightly. "She is a fighter. Maya has beaten the odds so often. She will beat this. It will be okay." "I need to go see her." Carina got up and went to go scrub and get into PPE. She sat next to Mayas bed. Dr. Lindner and Dr. Ndugu came in. "We will keep her sedated until tomorrow. She is on antibiotics, steriods and some other medication to help stabilize her immunsystem. She is stable. Her lungs are very weak and she is not breathing on her own, but i am hopefull that they recover. Pneumonia is very comon for cancer patients." Dr. Ndugu said and showed Carina the scans. "She is a fighter. She is responding well to the chemo. It just happens to be a very very dangerous treatment." Dr. Lindner said and Carina sighed. "Is there anything i could have done to prevent this?" Carina asked almost wispering. "No. The infection spread with little to no immun response. Her body simply couldn't fight it." Dr. Lindner said. "But her fever is already down a little. I am carefully hopeful." Carina looked at the monitor. 103,6. "It is still really high." "That means her body is still fighting." Carina tried to stay optimistic and thanked the two doctors as they left.

A few hours away in Portland Nina woke up at 7 o'clock, because she promised to be at the liberary by 8 and wanted to have some breakfast before, to find a message from Andy saying. "Hey Nina, please don't freak out. We had to take your mom to the hospital tonight. She was having trouble breathing. She is stable now and your Mamma is with her. But she is on a ventilator, because her lungs are to week from the pneumonia. Lung infection." Nina gasped. She quickly diled Andys number, completly ignoring, that it was very early considering it was saturday. But Andy was up already, because the girls were up. "Nina. Did you get my message?" Andy aswered the phone. "Yes? What the hell happend? I talked to mom yesterday at lunch. She was fine." "She has nothing to fight an infection. It happens so fast. We couldn't have done anything." "I am coming home. I need to come home." Nina said and woke her roommate. "What happend?" Clara groaned. "Sorry, Clara. I'll let you sleep." She got up and went into the hallway. "Andy?" "Yes?" "I am scared. I can't loose her." Nina was almost in tears already. "This distance is making me crazy. I am failing at my classes and i can not concentrate. I hate being so far away and it isn't even that far. I hate that i can't concentrate and that i will probably loose my scolarship and i hate, that i am failing and putting another burden on my parents." By now she was crying and hitting the floor with her fist. "Hey Nina. Mi niña, Take a deep breath. Please. Breathe." Nina took a deep breath. "Good. It will be okay. You do not need to be perfect in your classes. It is not demanded of you that you pass all your classes all the time. That is not humanly possible and everyone will agree with me on that. Also it is totaly normal that you are not fully concentrated on your studdys. Your mom is sick. That is bad and it is okay to struggle. Are you still going to therapy?" "Yes." "What does your therapist say?" "She says, not to pressure myself, to try my best and maybe do less subjects, but those properly." "See. That is a good idea." Andy was proud of her niece for talking about her feelings. "I need to go home. I want to be home, Andy." "I understand. Can Tucker take you?" "No. He is gone for some studdys somewhere at the ocean. He has the car." "What about the bus?" "I'll look, can you pick me up at the busstop?" "Sure."  "i'll text you when i am there." Nina said and already thought off what she needed to bring. She had a test on Monday, so she needed to studdy, but she could studdy on the bus and at home if necessary. "Good. Okay. And Nina?" "Hm?" "She will be okay. She is already doing better. Okay. This is hard and dangerous, but it will be fine." Nina took another deep breath. "Thank you, Andy. Okay." "Bye, Mija. See you in a few hours." "Bye, Tia." Nina said and hung up.

She went back inside and found herself wrapped up in Claras embrace. "Okay. Thank you, but why?" "The door is basically paper. I heard everything you said." "Oh. I am sorry. You worked late, i woke you. I am sorry." "Don't be. Lets find you a bus." Nina smiled. How did she deserve such friends?