Life is...Love, Family, Friendship

Between Here & There

The sun felt so good on Maya's skin. Warm and bright, a slight ocean breeze blowing just enough that there was the faintest taste of salt in it. Maya sat in the Adirondack chair while the waves gently lapped the beach, her head back and eyes closed, feeling so calm and at peace.
"It's beautiful here."
She opened her eyes and looked up to see Andrew Deluca standing above her, the sun behind him creating a glow.
"Mind if I sit a while with you?"
Maya looked over at the empty chair next to her and nodded. Andrew took a seat and leaned back.
"I never got a chance to thank you Maya. That whole thing with the kids....you really stepped up to help."
Maya reached over and laid a hand on Andrew's arm.
"I wish I had done more. I'm sorry I couldn't save you."
Andrew placed his hand over Maya's, turned to her and smiled. Maya realized he and Carina had the same smile and she found herself smiling back. They sat there in silence for a while.

Carina had fallen into a restless sleep with Maya's hand still on her cheek. The twitch of her wife's fingers against her skin brought her instantly back to the reality of where they were. Carina's eyes darted to Maya's face before she checked the monitors. There was no change. Carina sighed and kissed Maya's hand before standing and leaning over to kiss her pale lips. She looked intently at Maya, lying there so still and looking so peaceful.
"Mi manchi amore mio."

Maya turned her head when she heard Carina's voice, but she couldn't see her anywhere. Andrew gave her hand a quick squeeze.
"It's weird, right?"
"Why can't I see her?"
"You will soon."
"She sounds so scared. I have to go find her."
"You can't yet."
"Why not?"
"Because we are here now and having a visit."
"Andrew, she needs me."
"She does. And you need her. But for right now, you and I are going to sit here."
"I don't understand."
"Maya, why didn't you tell anyone about your crush injury?"
"I-I just didn't...I don't know why. I guess I just didn't want to worry anyone. I thought I'd be ok."
"You will be, but you need to remember that you are a wife and a mother now. You have to remember that anything that affects you, affects your family."
"I know. I was going to tell her when I got in the house. But then this happened. She's probably pretty pissed at me right now."
"Oh she will be, but right now she's scared."

Carina wiped her eyes when she heard the knock on the door.
"Si?"
Miranda opened the door and peeked in. Behind her, Teddy was talking to a woman but Carina couldn't quite see who.
"Can I come in?"
"Si si, of course."
Miranda entered and shut the door behind her. She gave the monitors a once over before coming to stand on the other side of the bed across from Carina. She reached down and gave Maya's hand a quick squeeze.
"No change?"
"No. I fell asleep with her hand on my cheek and her fingers twitched, but that's been it."
"Well wherever she is right now, I know she's thinking of you. Look how peaceful she looks, she only looks that way when she's with you."
Carina smiled and wiped her eyes again as the tears began to well up.

Maya felt her heart skip. She reached up to her chest and looked at Andrew.
"What's going on?"
"She's scared she's going to lose you."
"But you just said I'm going to be ok?"
"You are, but she doesn't know that yet. She wants to believe it, but she's struggling."
"What can I do? I need to go back to her. I can't have her be this scared."
"She needs to be strong a little bit longer. She has a big decision to make while you're here with me."
"I don't understand."
"She needs to trust in the love you share."
"You mean she doesn't?"
"She's worried how you're going to react. She doesn't want to decide without you."
"Andrew, she's my world. I trust her with my life."
"That's all she needs to know."

"Carina, Teddy got the results back from Maya's blood draw. You need to make a decision."
Carina blinked and stared at Miranda. She felt her heart skip a beat as she swallowed hard and gripped Maya's limp hand.
"What is it? What's wrong?"
"You and Maya had an appointment scheduled for tomorrow, to harvest her eggs."
"Madre dio, I completely forgot. We need to reschedule obviously."
"Well, it appears that Maya is ovulating right now and we can perform the procedure today."
Carina felt her jaw drop. She couldn't believe that she was hearing Miranda correctly. Maya was in a coma and they were talking about taking her eggs?
"Miranda, I-"
"Ok, I know the timing is not good, but why don't you just hear Teddy and the specialist out? You can make a decision then."
Miranda went and opened the door and motioned for Teddy and the other woman to come in. Teddy smiled at Carina and nodded.
"Carina, this is Rebecca, she's from the IVF clinic and can perform the procedure. It only takes about twenty minutes and it won't harm Maya at all."
The petite woman stepped closer to the end of Maya's bed and smiled at Carina.
"Doctor Deluca, I apologize for the timing of this, but we have an opportunity to perform the extraction of your wife's eggs today as the next twenty four hours provide for the optimal window of success. Your wife had signed all of the appropriate paperwork and as you know, we had her on our schedule for tomorrow morning."
Carina moved her gaze to each of the women standing in front of her. How could this be happening? She looked down at Maya and back up again.
"I-I need a minute please."
"Of course. We will wait outside."
Miranda waved Teddy and Rebecca toward the doorway and out into the hallway. Carina kept ahold of Maya's hand and sat on the bed.
"Dimmi cosa fare amore mio. Ti prego por favore."

Maya stood up from the chair and turned around when she heard Carina's voice.
"What? Carina I don't understand what you're saying?"
"That's because you're trying too hard."
"I feel her so strong, I just want to be with her."
"You are Maya. And she is here with us. Stop trying so hard. Stop being so eyes forward."
Maya blinked at Andrew. She felt odd, none of the usual anxiety that coursed through her daily seemed to be present. Instead she felt this almost overwhelmingly intense energy from within herself. It was warm, safe and so peaceful. And as she closed her eyes, she could see Carina at the center of it. Maya felt her heart beat faster as she looked at her wife.
"My love..."

Carina jumped when Maya's heart monitor spiked and she felt Maya's fingers jerk closed before opening again. The monitor returned to normal and Maya fell motionless again.
"Ti amo amore mio. Grazie."
She bent down and kissed Maya before calling out to the hallway.
"Doctor Altman?"
Teddy peeked her head in. Carina motioned for them to re-enter. She stood up, keeping Maya's hand in hers.
"Ok, let's do it. It's what we both want."
Both Teddy and Miranda smiled. Rebecca went out into the hallway and returned with a small black case and placed it on the table.
"I've just got to prep a few things and we will perform the procedure. Doctor Altman, do you confirm that this patient is medically stable for me to proceed?"
"I do. Maya Deluca-Bishop is presently in a medically induced coma with the intention of maintaining her health as she recovers from a crush injury she received while in the line of duty. Her vital signs including brain function are all stable. Her blood gas panels show that she is in peak ovulation and as she and her wife, Doctor Carina Deluca-Bishop have consented to an IVF extraction of her eggs, I can confirm that you are authorized to perform the procedure."
"Thank you. This procedure will take approximately twenty minutes and I will immediately move the harvested eggs to the clinic here at Grey-Sloan so that we can begin the fertility procedure for Doctor Deluca at another date."