The Reunion: Still Falling For You (EN)

chapter 2.32

As a new parent, Maya was entitled to twelve weeks' unpaid newborn leave. These twelve weeks would go by extremely quickly. They had discussed it at length. At first, Maya didn't want to take so much time off, as she couldn't imagine staying so far away from the station for so long, and then having to depend financially on her wife, who worked for a company where these three months were paid.

But Carina had insisted. They had opted to take six of those twelve weeks together, with the Italian taking the next six and Maya the six after that, as she didn't have to take them all at once but could divide them up, as long as she took them within their daughter's first year. In any case, for the time being, Carina was allowed to continue to work from home after these twelve weeks, as she was breast-feeding Jordan.

In Maya's absence, it was Jack who had taken over the running of the fire station, with Chief Ross spending some time at Station 19. She didn't particularly trust McCallister, and he didn't come to Station 19 that much because there was no one of interest to him. He preferred to go to the stations where he had his little acquaintances.

At least once a week, Maya and Carina took the little girl to the barracks. Leslie Shay had finally joined the barracks. As expected, she had tried out for the D team. But Maya should have been there, which had been impossible, as her wife had given birth a few days before her trial. Maya had relied on the advice of her lieutenants, Herrera and Gibson, as well as a conversation she'd had earlier with battalion Chief Sullivan, to finally request her transfer at the end of August from Station 88 to D Team Station 19.She was the first girl on Team D, which now had at least one woman on every team on the station. Her goal was to have at least two, if not more.

So they'd gone to the blonde's barracks every week since Jordan's birth, except the previous one, as they'd gone to Granny Gaga's. 

But this Tuesday, it was a brand-new face that would enter Jordan's world. This Tuesday, Gabriella would finally come to meet her.

The blonde had gone to the airport to pick her up at lunchtime, while her wife had stayed behind with their little Zita to prepare lunch and not leave their daughter waiting in an airport parking lot for long minutes.

The late landing of Gabri's plane was due to poorly organized air traffic. Her flight had circled Seattle airport for over twenty minutes before being cleared to land. Maya was all the more relieved not to have brought her wife and daughter with her, as the twenty-minute delay was compounded by an hour's delay in baggage claim. They had finally arrived home at over thirteen thirty for a landing originally scheduled for midday.

-"Bambina?" Carina asked as she heard the door open.

- "yes, it's us, my love"

- "la più bella!" Gabriella said seeing her best friend. [the most beautiful girl]

- "Non ascoltarla, mi ha detto la stessa cosa." [Don't listen to her, she told me the same thing] remarked Maya, which had made her wife laugh. 

The Italian had come to greet her best friend with a hug.

- "Mi sei mancato!" [I missed you!]

- "Anche tu, tesoro... beh, tutti voi!" [you too tesoro... well you all!] she added, winking at the blonde. "Allora, dov'è questa piccola meraviglia?" [So where is this little wonder?]

- "l'hai mancata di poco. Ha cercato di resistere... Ma le ho appena dato da mangiare ed è a letto. Sta riposando" [you just missed her. She tried to resist... But I've just fed her and she's in bed. She's resting]

- "Where's Ford?" Maya asked.

- "Where do you think? He's asleep at the foot of the bed. "

- "oh... Okay, he doesn't even bother to come and see me when I get home anymore."