When In Rome...Or Greece

Abduction

Carina stood on the balcony of their suite, looking out over the rooftops of Athens, watching the sun rise as she rubbed her now very noticeable bump and tried deep breathing to calm herself. The nightmare hadn't stopped for two weeks and Carina was worried that it meant something more.  She heard the rustle of the curtains and a moment later, felt her anxiety melting away as Maya's arms slid around her, cradling her baby bump as she tenderly kissed the back of Carina's neck.
"Good morning my love."
Carina leaned back into Maya's body and sighed contentedly.
"I love you."
"I love you.  What are you doing out here all alone? Are you ok?"
"I'm worried Bambina.  We're going to be separated today and I'm worried about you."
Maya held Carina closer and slowly swayed with her as she rubbed her wife's belly.
"I think you're feeling overly emotional babe.  We have been fine all this time.  Between Katie and Lucy and Salvatore I've honestly never felt more safe than I do right now."
Carina turned around to face Maya, wrapping her arms around Maya's neck, stroking her hair as she stared into her wife's ocean blue eyes. 
"Maya, please promise me that you'll never leave me alone."
"Hey, what's this all about?  You know I always come back to you.  And now that we have Liam and our girls on the way, I'm not planning on going anywhere for a long, long time.  I know this hasn't been the quiet vacation we wanted, but Carina, I've felt more connected to you than I ever thought I could be, and that's been since all the revelations and twists that I never saw coming.  I don't know exactly what our future is going to look like, but I do know that we are going to do it together.  So let's get through today and then we can head back to Italy and Liam.  My mom is coming next week and before you know it, we'll be heading home to Seattle to wait for these little princesses to make their debut.  How's that sound?"
Carina nodded silently and felt the tears fill her eyes as Maya gently ran her fingers over each side of Carina's face, holding her head and looking down at her wife's mouth before leaning in for a deep and gentle kiss.

"This thing is really heavy! I mean, it feels heavier than Kate's bronze one!"
Maya chuckled as Lucy held her medal, switching it from hand to hand before Kate took it from her.
"That's because Maya's is gold. They make them heavier because they carry more prestige."
Maya laughed out loud.
"You know that's a bunch of bullshit! Don't screw with Lucy's head! All the medals are the same weight."
"Well, maybe it's because Kate never talks about hers or even displays it. I happened to find it in the back of the bottom drawer by accident. She keeps it wrapped up in a pair of socks with red, white and blue stripes on them."
Does one of the socks have a hole in the heel?"
"Yes! How do you know that?"
"Because they're MY socks! She 'borrowed' them the night she came back from her qualifying and said her feet were cold. I loaned them to her and I never got them back!"
All three women laughed as the SUV pulled up to the Olympic Track Club. Kate opened the door and climbed out, scanning the small crowd that was standing there before motioning for Maya to exit.
"Here we go, ready?"
Maya smiled at Lucy as she draped her medal around her neck and stepped out waving to the cheering crowd. Lucy hopped out right behind her and the trio walked toward the entrance. Once inside they were met by members of the board who directed Maya to a dais where a table and set of microphones were placed in the center.
"If you will, please take your seat for the media Q and A."
Maya gave Kate and Lucy a quick squeeze on their forearms before stepping up and standing for the camera flashes and live-streaming. Lucy stayed where she was as Kate moved to the other side of the dais, neither of them taking their eyes off the crowd.

"Your wife is very important to the Olympics isn't she Principessa?"
Carina nodded and smiled as she took her eyes from the livestream to look at Salvatore.
"Maya not only ran and won, but she also broke an Olympic record, all on a sprained ankle. That puts her in a very elite category. But to me, it's what she's done since that is most impressive."
Salvatore nodded and smiled as Carina turned her attention back to the iPad where the President of the IOC was beginning his introduction. Carina rubbed her stomach and bent over.
"Your mamma is going to give a speech bambina's, listen closely."
There was a sudden knock at the door to Carina's SUV as she scrunched her face up at the interruption.
"Forza! Perche deve essere proprio adesso?"
Carina made sure the 'RECORD' feature was on as she placed the device on the seat and smoothed her outfit. Salvatore held his hand on the door until she nodded, prompting him to open it and step out. He turned and offered his hand to Carina as an assist. Once out, Carina fluffed her hair before walking toward the warehouse with Salvatore close by her side. A young man nodded and opened the door, stepping aside and motioning for Carina to enter. The building was well lit and there were numerous items stacked around with an opening where a table and chairs were set up. The five men seated all stood as Carina approached, with one of them stepping forward and extending his hand.
"Principessa Deluca, welcome to Greece. We are honored to have this opportunity at discussions for future joint ventures. Please sit, may we offer you anything?"
Carina shook his hand and nodded as she took a seat, with Salvatore moving to stand directly behind her, his hands clasped in front of him.
"If I could trouble you for a water por favore."
The man nodded and snapped his fingers, prompting another young man to hurry off, returning a moment later with a bottle of water and handing it to Carina.
"Grazie. We can begin whenever you are ready."

From behind a tv camera, Liu whispered as Tao pretended he was scribbling notes.
"Are they in place? We are only going to get one chance at this."
"Yes, two of them are up at the front and there are two more by the doors once we have her, plus the car is ready right outside. We are going to have to move fast because FBI and NCIS are going to be on us immediately."
"Don't worry, I've got a smoke bomb. Once we grab her, I'll release it. Get ready."

Maya felt like her face was going to get stuck in a permanent smile as she finished up the Q&A and the IOC president began to speak again. She glanced over at Kate who was busy scanning the crowd before turning to Lucy who gave her a thumbs up and then turned her attention away as well. After a few minutes and another round of applause, the IOC president motioned to the track alongside the dais and Maya stood to follow him down toward it as the media began repositioning themselves. A row of young runners were lined up and Maya smiled at each of them, giving waves and thumbs up as they all nodded and smiled back. Kate began to follow Maya toward the track when she was stopped by someone wearing a 'SECURITY' polo. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw that Lucy was also being detained and immediately Kate's senses started tingling. The media were all congregating alongside the track except for a pair with camera equipment stating they were from Hawaii. Those two were moving toward Maya at a rapid pace as it dawned on Kate that they were the two men who she and Lucy encountered in the elevator back in Rome.
Everything happened in the flash of a second as Kate strong armed the security guard and pushed him out of the way, catching Lucy doing the same behind her. Taking long strides, Kate moved to close the gap between her and her friend as a shot rang out followed by two more in rapid succession. Panic erupted as the crowd began to run or fall to the ground, covering their heads. Kate was only a few steps from Maya when she felt the bullet hit her vest and take the wind out of her. She looked at her friend and saw one of the young runners slumped against Maya, blood pumping out of her shoulder as Maya tried to stop the flow. Another gunshot rang out and Kate saw Maya stumble back as the bullet went though the girl in Maya's embrace.
"GET DOWN!"
Kate reached for Maya just as she felt another shot slam into the back of her vest and knock the wind out of her a second time. She fell to the floor and heard Lucy scream her name as one of the Asian news crew stepped over her, smiled and slammed the camera against her head, knocking her unconscious.
"KATE!"
Maya was motionless on her back, blood splattered across her once pristine USA track suit as Lucy pushed her way through the crowd. She leveled her gun as the two men stood over Maya, one pulling a pin and dropping a smoke grenade. Lucy aimed and squoze the trigger twice before they disappeared behind the white fog. She heard one of them grunt before falling to the ground as the vague shadow of the other one lifted Maya over his shoulder and headed for the exit. Bending to check Kate's neck for a pulse, Lucy glanced at the one she managed to hit before running to the exit door, only to see a car speeding off.
"Dammit!"
Lucy made her way back toward Kate and the injured Asian, stopping to cuff his hands behind his back and then moving back over to Kate. She rolled her over and held back tears as she tried to wake her.
"Kate! Kate! I need you to wake up!"
After a minute, Kate coughed and gasped as she grabbed at Lucy's arms and stared up at her wide eyed. Lucy let the tears fall as she smiled and stroked Kate's face.
"You're ok, it's ok, I'm here."
"Whe-where-where's Maya?"
"They took her. I don't know how badly she's hurt, but I clipped one of them and he's right over there. We'll get him to talk and tell us."
Kate gave Lucy a shaky thumbs up as she picked one of the bullets out of her vest.
"Carina is going to go ballistic."