The Accident

Part 24

The drugs knocked Maya out for the rest of the night except for one ten-minute time she woke up because of her stomach.

Carina slept less well, waking up several times to use the bathroom and just because her tummy was so upset.

When Maya woke up at 9, Carina was curled up in bed next to her sound asleep. Maya felt something tickling her face, looking and seeing her teddy bear on her chest. Maya smiled, rubbing it against her cheek.

This bear had been a physical connection to Carina while her fiancé was in the Covid hotspot and then in quarantine, but honestly, she used it often when Carina was working or sometimes, even when her wife was struggling with physical touch, and she needed some herself. That was actually how Andy found out about Maya's bear.

It was the first anniversary of Andrew's death, and Maya had taken a couple of days off both because she knew how hard this was going to be for Carina, and also because she herself was struggling with it too, a lot more than she had anticipated.

She and Andrew had gotten pretty close during the time between Maya and Carina getting back together and Andrew's murder.

The first time she met him had been about six weeks into the pandemic when she and Carina went on what ended up becoming a weekly park date. They would go to a park, each bringing their own food, spread out blankets 10 feet apart, and talk for hours, just enjoying hearing each other's voices not over a phone.

After a few weeks of it, Carina texted Maya, asking if maybe Andrew could join them. Maya wasn't totally sure how she felt about it, but she agreed because it seemed like it was important to her girlfriend and Maya was doing everything she could to be back in Carina's good graces despite all of her girlfriend's insistence she had forgiven her.

Maya had gotten there early, making sure to get "their" spot secured, not that there were many people in the park because of the lockdowns, but more and more people were starting to be outside.

Carina had texted Maya, telling her there was an accident and she was stuck waiting for it to be cleared so she was going to be late.

Maya had told her it was fine, but internally she was freaking out because just as Carina texted her, she saw Andrew walking over. He approached her, setting up his blanket at the proper distance before sitting down. It had been awkward at first, but by the time Carina got there forty minutes later, the two of them were chatting like they had been friends for a long time. From there, their relationship had only grown.

When Carina moved in, they would have twice a week facetime dinners with Andrew, and there were nights when Carina would be working that Maya and Andrew would just facetime together.

Andrew reminded Maya a little bit of Mason, maybe just because he was a younger brother, but he also was driven and ok with who he was and passionate like Mason so maybe it was more than just the little brother thing.

Andrew would tell Maya about what Carina was like as a kid and Maya would tell him about her firefighting and the Olympics. Carina had come home more than once to find Maya sitting on the couch talking to Andrew about so many things, and though she never actually said anything, Carina loved that her brother and girlfriend had such a good relationship.

Maya enjoyed having the feeling of having a brother again, and she was seriously considering trying to find Mason again when Andrew had been murdered, and it had crushed their world.

Maya tried her best to keep her grief inside and not let Carina know how much losing Andrew was also impacting her, but it was challenging. She had run about it and worked out about it and talked to Diane about it and that screaming at the firehouse had been almost as much for her as it was for her girlfriend.