little love

97

About 2 weeks went by, Maya had been cleared to return to work and Maddie was cleared to go back to unrestricted physical activity. She still needed to be cautious though. Maya and Carina had made her promise to tell them if she felt any pain whatsoever, Maddie nodded eagerly and called Shannon and Lily to share the good news.

Speaking of Shannon, in those 2 weeks, Maddie had spent a lot of time and the 2 remained quite smitten with each other. It was Friday night, and Maddie and Shannon were goofing off with a soccer ball in the local park, they were laughing and having a great time when Shannon realized the time.

"Oh crap i have to go!" She said. "But before i do.." she pulled Maddie in for a kiss and they broke apart, both laughing

"Hey before you go... i was wondering... i would like to introduce you to Maya and Carina, and i would like to introduce you as my girlfriend, ummm if that's okay" Maddie said, running her hands through her hair nervously.

"I would love that!!" Shannon pulled her in for another kiss "see you later.... Girlfriend" Shannon smiled and winked before they separated.

It was Friday night, and Shannon was having a family dinner to celebrate her brother's birthday. Lily was in Portland visiting Alexa. Both Maya and Carina were working overnight shifts, so Maddie just hung out at the park a bit longer kicking her ball around before deciding to go hang out at the station for a bit.

"Hey mini bishop!" Travis called from the reception desk as Maddie walked in

"hey Travis- is mom here?" Maddie replied. She was feeling a bit unsettled with the thought of Maya being back at work after her injury

"Nah, they are all at a 3 alarm downtown" Travis said nonchalantly spinning in his chair, totally oblivious to Maddie's steadily increasing nerves.

"3 alarm? That's bad right?" Maddie's voice sounded too high pitched, but Travis didnt notice.

"Well they leave me camped out here unless it gets to 4" Travis just kept spinning in his chair.

"What's the call?" Maddie just wanted all the information

"Uhh i think a recycling plant, we can listen to the incident on radio if you want?" Travis finally seemed to notice something was bothering the kid. Maddie just nodded and came and sat next to Travis as he turned on the radio.

Maddie sat on the reception counter and pulled her knees to her chest, resting her chin on her knees. She was picking at her fingernails and gnawing at the inside of her cheek.

"Hey kid, you okay?" Travis looked at her kindly. Maddie just nodded.

They listened to the radio for a bit, but didnt hear anything from anyone from 19. It sounded bad, and it seemed like it was sure to get to 4, maybe even 5 alarms.

Maddie felt like her chest was tight, she could feel a panic attack coming. She just wanted to know that Maya was okay. She needed to know Maya was okay.

"Maddie?" Travis asked, he heard the teenager's breathing quicken and become uneven. Maddie couldn't hear him. Travis tried to gently put a hand on Maddie's shoulder, but she flinched at his touch. "Maddie, hey kid, it's okay. You're okay. Maya's okay, everything is okay, breathe for me"

He did his best to get her attention, but it was no use, she couldn't hear him over her own racing thoughts. In her head, all she could see was maya in the hospital, unmoving, still. What if she got hurt again? What it it was worse? What if she died? Firefighters died in the line of duty all the time. It was a dangerous job. What ifs and worst case scenarios raced through her head like someone had pressed fast forward.