You & Me & Our Little Family

Flashover

"...diventa grande e forte.  Can you say 'pera'?"
"Si Mamma..pera! Froot!"
"Fantastico Liam!  Brava!"
Carina smiled and wiped her son's face as he enjoyed his fruit cup.  She couldn't believe that he was going to be two in only a couple of days.  It seemed like it was only yesterday that she and Maya had delivered him in the aftermath of the Fireman's Ball disaster.  She had never imagined that delivering this fast growing little boy would have been the second step in cementing her's and Maya's renewed commitment to one another.  It was times like this that Carina silently missed her mother.  She often dreamt about her mother fussing over him and the twins, cooking and singing and dancing with them.  It made her beyond grateful that Katherine was part of their lives and Carina was so happy that she had grown very close to her mother-in-law. 
"Mamma Bina! I eat pera!"
Carina turned in her chair and smiled as Maya walked into the kitchen carrying the twins in each arm.  Maya  blew Carina a kiss and then looked at him as she opened her eyes wide.
"You did? That's awesome love bug! Did you save me any?"
"You have booberry Mamma Bina!"
"But those are your favorite too!  How about if we share them?"
Carina sat quietly and watched as Maya and Liam interacted while Andrea and Gianna stared up at her.  They had all been enjoying a relatively peaceful home life and had settled into a comfortable family routine with their children.  Carina treasured these moments and always made sure to hold fast to them, especially since all three of their babies were growing so fast. She stood up and took Gianna from Maya's arm and kissed her as she held her to her chest.
"Ciao mia bella ragazza. Ti amo Gianna."
Gianna stared at Carina for a moment before her little cheeks scrunched up into a smile and her blue eyes sparkled.  Carina looked over at Maya and nodded.
"She has your eyes Bambina, and I'm helpless against that.  And I also think she knows it already."
"Well, Andrea is that little version of you I wished for.  How long do you think before Liam here teaches them all his tricks about how to manipulate us?"
Liam looked up from eating his fruit and smiled at them, causing both Maya and Carina's hearts to melt.
"I'm pretty sure he has already started."

"Engine nineteen, ladder nineteen and aid car nineteen requested to rapidly spreading commercial structure fire at Century City Medical Complex."
The entire team hustled out into the barn and began suiting up as Maya yelled across the open truck doors to Andy.
"There's a bunch of outpatient procedure offices there.  We're going to have to be careful of combustibles."
"Yeah, I'll radio for a schematic to be sent to our tablets."
Both women nodded as Maya jumped up into the engine and Andy pulled herself into the passenger seat of the ladder truck.  Vic flicked the lights and sirens as Maya adjusted her headset and turned to look at her team.
"Listen up!  This is a situation that is going to have multiple issues.  You've all been doing good, but this time is different.  Pay attention to everything.  Don't separate from your partner and don't try to be a cowboy, got it?  When we get there, gear up and be ready when I give you your assignments."
"Holy shit..."
Maya turned back around as Vic pointed to the smoke rising over the tree line. Blowing the horn, Vic cut the corner and headed up a side road in an attempt to get to the complex from another angle as the comm crackled and Andy's voice came over.
"Dispatch be advised, engine nineteen is accessing the complex from bravo side. Ladder nineteen will take delta side."
"Copy that nineteen, station thirty five is on scene and reporting multiple outbreaks. Additional stations have been called in. Take lead and coordinate evacuations and containment."
Vic rolled up to the complex and looked at Maya.
"This is gonna be a bitch of a job."
"Well, that's why we're the best right?"
Maya smiled as she grabbed her helmet and jumped down from the truck.
"Ok team, listen up! Barnes, Cahill, you're with Hughes on exterior. I need hoses connected and the building to get soaked. Jones, Ellis, you're with me, we are going to make entry and start search and rescue. Once we get more help, Hughes, Cahill and Barnes can move in to begin dousing this bitch from the inside! Suit up, we're going in!"
Maya turned and headed toward the door when it flung open and a group of firefighters emerged holding on to civilians as smoke billowed out behind them. The last one out had no turnout jacket on and she was pressing her face mask against the man she was practically dragging out with her. Maya blinked as she came up and swung the victim's other arm over her shoulder.
"Angie? What are you doing here? Where's your jacket?"
"Maya thank God! Listen, my team went in and we got caught up in a flashover. I had been tending to this guy and my tank was off my back, luckily because otherwise it would have blown me up. My jacket took the brunt of it so I had to lose it. There's probably about another dozen people in there."
"Ok, come on, let's get him to the aid car and I've got an old turnout in the engine. You can lead us to them!"
As Angie explained to the paramedics what was going on, Maya jogged over to the engine and opened the side compartment by the passenger door. She pulled out her old turnout and hustled back toward her friend. Angie was switching her tank for a new one and nodded to Maya as she took the jacket and threw it on before lifting her tank and following Maya, Cam and Nat back toward the building. Once inside, she moved to the front and pointed. Maya turned to Nat and Cam and gestured as her filtered voice gave instructions.
"Sweep these rooms and then advance! If you find anyone, radio out and the back up team will meet you in the hallway to get them out! Don't lose each other, got it?"
Both women nodded and Maya turned her attention back toward Angie, only to find her several feet ahead. Maya swore under her breath as she took off to catch up.
"Angie! Dammit wait for me!"
A flame burst out of one of the offices, shattering the glass as Maya passed by it. Turning her head to shield herself, she felt the shards pelting against her jacket. A few more steps and she reached her friend who was stopped in front of a rapidly growing fireball.
"Angie, what the fuck? You can't go through this way! This is too intense, we've got to double back! We can go down the hallway we just passed and come around from the other side!"
Angie turned to look at Maya and then nodded as they backed away and headed back the few feet with Angie pulling ahead of Maya yet again. She turned down the side hallway and moved forward as Maya took one last look back toward where she had left Nat and Cam, who spotted her before she disappeared down the hallway. Maya checked ahead of her as she began sweeping her eyes across the windows of the offices, as she yelled.
"Fire department, call out! If you can hear me, call out!"
Maya stopped for a moment and looked between the flames that were quickly surrounding them to make sure there wasn't anyone in an office space as Angie kept moving forward, expanding the space between them. Finding no one, Maya turned her attention back toward her friend just as she saw the wall begin to bow out.
"ANGIE! STOP! GET BACK!"
Maya bolted forward, reaching out her gloved hand and grabbing Angie, pulling her back just as the wall burst out at them, the flames exploding and engulfing them both in a superheated flashover. Maya felt herself get slammed through the glass of an office window before feeling the debris fall on her, covering her as she lost consciousness and the flames licked the walls.

"Holy shit! What the fuck was that?"
"It had to have been oxygen tanks exploding! Fuck! Didn't the Captain just go down that hallway! Come on Nat, we've got to go find her!"
Cam and Nat took off toward the hallway Angie and Maya had just gone down, rounding the corner to see a huge fireball erupting from one of the offices. Smaller pops of exploding bits of glass were randomly flying out of it as Nat grabbed her radio and depressed the button.
"We need assistance NOW! Captain Deluca-Bishop is trapped behind a flashover! We can't see her! Delta quadrant, hallway east! Hurry!"
Both women looked around frantically when Cam spotted a fire extinguisher that had been blown out of an office. She picked it up and checked it, pulling the pin and unlocking the hose from the clamp. Nat nodded as she moved to follow her friend. Making short bursts, Cam managed to create a small opening as they hugged the opposite wall. They were almost through the wall of fire when they heard Vic's filtered voice over their comms.
"Where is she?"
The wall of water hit the flames as Vic, Perry and Jake all came into view, spraying with their hoses. Nat's eyes searched frantically as Cam's extinguisher sputtered and she discarded it. Moving forward with the retreating flames, Nat felt her heart catch as she spotted the turnout and saw BISHOP on the tail of the jacket, underneath the still crackling flames and debris.
"HERE! SHE'S HERE! HURRY!"
Vic rounded the corner, her hose spraying everything down as she saw it too.
"MAYA! NO!"
Vic pressed her hose into Cam's hands and ran toward the debris, pulling the smoldering embers from Maya's jacket and grabbing onto it, dragging the limp figure out. The mask was shattered and the face and body burned as Vic felt her heart catch in her chest at seeing the wisps of blonde hair. She grabbed her comm and screamed into it.
"FIREFIGHTER DOWN! I NEED A FUCKING MEDIC!"
She turned to Cam and Nat, her eyes wide as she pointed back toward the hall.
"Get them NOW! Barnes, Cahill, I need this fucking area soaked! We need to get her out of here!"
"Hughes! We're here!"
"Beckett! It's Maya! We need to get her to Grey-Sloan! I-I don't think she breathing!"
Working fast, they lifted the limp figure onto the gurney and secured her as Vic attempted to find an airway in the mangled mess of a face. Pulling the jacket open, she gasped as she saw the completely charred chest.
"Nonononooo! Please, PLEASE COME ON!"
"Hughes, we gotta go!"
Barnes and Cahill pushed forward with Cam and Nat assisting as they all sprayed the flames, pressing the fire out of existence while Vic and Beckett ran out toward the parking lot pushing the gurney. No one noticed the gloved hand slowly start moving under the soaked debris.