We all have choices.

Decelerate

"Hey, you ready?" Maya opens the door of Carina's office after hearing come in.

The Italian puts on her coat and adjusts the collar. "Yeah, let's go."

"What's that under your..." Carina asks curiously and raises her hand to wipe the black spot on Maya's neck under her ear.

Maya also wipes her neck to see what's on her neck. "Oh! It's soot. I must missed this spot. I didn't want to be late, so I only washed off the smell without cleaning thoroughly. You know..."

Maya gives her a knowing look.

Carina rolls her eyes playfully, "I told you I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be rude."

The day before yesterday, Carina ran into Maya at the ER, and she ran away to the outside and threw up into the garden when Maya walked closer to her.

The mixture smell of sweat and the stink of burning plastic made Carina nauseous.

She held up her hand to stop Maya walking closer to her. The blonde firefighter was clueless to Carina's reaction and not sure what to do.

Carina texted her later explaining everything and Maya teased her a bit.

"It's hormone's fault to make you rude. I know." Maya chuckles and follows Carina into an exam room.

Not long after, Jo walks into the room. "Hello, ladies."

"Hi, Jo." Maya asks eagerly, "Can we hear baby's heartbeat today?"

"Of course. Carina told me that you've been excited about it." Jo says, setting up machine, "Can you lie down and roll up your clothes for me, Carina?

"Not only her, other firefighters are also excited these days. Travis had me to tell him how it goes after check-up." Carina says while lying down on the chair.

"Let's take a look of baby's development first, shall we?" Jo smiles and squeezes some gel on Carina's belly.

Maya's eyes widen when the monitor shows the status of their baby.

"They grew limbs already!" Maya says happily, making Carina smiles. She sees dozen of ultrasound image every day. She can read and assess the development babies within seconds.

She's used to these ultrasound image. Maya's reaction is more interesting than ultrasound for her.

"Their fingers and toes are still developing, so you can only see their limbs for now." Jo says. "And they look healthy on the ultrasound."

"That's great." Maya turns to look at Carina who's staring at her already. She nods with smile at Maya, confirming that their baby is healthy.

"And then let's hear baby's heartbeat..." Jo says and hits the button.

The rapid pounding sound comes out from the machine, leaving Maya in awe with her jaw dropped.

"Wow..."

Maya sighs in awe and turns to look at Carina, "That's so fast!"

"It is." Carina nods with smile and confirms again.

"Wait. Let me record this. They'll want to hear it." the blonde firefighter fumbles for her phone for a minute. Carina just shares a look with her protege, keeping quiet until Maya puts down her phone.

"That's so amazing..." Maya sighs with happiness.

Jo hands two ultrasound photos to Maya, who happily takes them. "Thank you, Jo."