2. Chapter 2

Here's Part 2!

"She is alive," Meredith said, nodding, "She is in a medically induced coma in the ICU right now. Everything was repaired well, but we are worried about infection because her small intestine was punctured. We had to remove about a foot of it as well, but she should recover just fine from that. She lost her left kidney, unfortunately. Her aorta was repaired, and we will watch it to make sure, but she got extremely lucky there. If that metal shard would have moved at all, she would have bled out. Her ribs look good, and while she does still have a chest tube, it's just a precaution and will probably be out by tomorrow. She is in for a long road, but if the next couple of days go well, I am confident she will make a full recovery."

"Thank you," Carina said, giving all of them hugs, "Um…Can I see her?"

"Of course," Owen nodded, "The nurses are just getting her settled. I will send someone to come find you when she's ready?"

"Ok," Carina nodded, "I need to go tell her team anyway. Are they all still in the lobby?"

"Yeah," Schmitt said, "Would you like me to come with you and give them the update?"

"Please," Carina said, the exhaustion of the day starting to hit her now that she knew Maya was at least alive.

"Do you want me to go get you a coffee or something to eat?" Amelia asked as Meredith and Owen walked away.

"Coffee would be good, si," Carina said, "But then you should go home. I will be fine."

"I think I'm going to stick around for a while," Amelia said, "I have a pretty important patient who I want to keep an eye on."

"Sorry," Carina said as they walked out of the chapel, "You should go check on them. You have been with me for…hours I think, though it feels like days. I don't mean to keep you from your important patient."

"Carina, I was talking about Maya," Amelia said, looking at her, realizing just how out of it her friend really was, "I am going to stick around for Maya, and for you. Link is working and Scout is with his grandparents so I am good to stay. I'll go grab some coffee and I'll meet you in the lobby?"

Carina nodded, following Schmitt to where all the firefighters were gathered. As soon as Carina walked in, Station 19 A shift walked up to her, everyone else hanging back.

"You can tell them everything," Carina said as Ben walked over to her, putting a hand on her shoulder as Schmitt started explaining what was going on.

Carina was pretty convinced that apart from Ben, as soon as 19 heard their captain had pulled through, they all stopped listening.

"Can we see her?" Andy asked, looking both at Schmitt and Carina.

"There are only two people allowed in the ICU rooms at a time," Schmitt said.

"Why don't we let Herrera go today," Ben said, "And the rest of us can wait, can go sit with Hughes and Montgomery and go see the captain tomorrow."

Everyone nodded, having been taking turns sitting with Travis and Vic the entire time Maya was in surgery. In fact, Jack had just gotten back and Andy was getting ready to go when Carina had walked in.

"We have to wait for them to get her settled before we can go up," Carina said, looking at Andy.

"How are you holding up?" Andy asked as the guys went to inform the rest of the station about what was going on with their captain.

"I will be better when I see her," Carina said, struggling to focus on anything.

Andy nodded, putting a hand on Carina's back. Amelia came up with coffee, handing a cup to Carina.

"Herrera, you want mine?" Amelia asked, "I can go get more."

Andy almost said yes, but then remembered what Carina told her earlier and declined.

"Suit yourself," Amelia said, taking a long sip of her own hot beverage.

Just then, a nurse walked up to them.

"Dr. Deluca, your wife is ready for you," the nurse said.

"Come on," Amelia said, putting a hand on Carina's back, "Let's go."

"I'll come up in a few minutes," Andy said, "I'm going to go let Trav and Vic know what's going on."

Carina nodded as Amelia guided her to the elevator.

"She's not going to look like your Maya," Amelia warned, knowing Carina was probably aware, but wanting to remind her, "She's got an ICP monitor in, her face is going to be swollen, she's intubated. She's got quite a few tubes and drains in right now. I think it's one in the leg, one in the chest, and one or maybe two in the abdomen."

"Lo so," Carina nodded, "And she is sedated, right?"

"Yeah," Amelia nodded, "She probably will be for the rest of today, just to give her body a chance to heal. If tonight goes well, I would be comfortable trying to wake her up tomorrow. I need to ask Maggie because I know she and Owen wanted her still for the abdomen for a little bit. I'll stop rambling at you. Come on."

Carina took a deep breath before opening the door and going in, gasping a little when she saw Maya. Her wife looked so bad, hooked up to what seemed like a million tubes and pumps and monitors.

"Her right arm is a little banged up," Amelia said, "Nothing broken, but a lot of bruising and swelling, but her left is good. Go hold her hand."

Carina went around the bed, tears dripping down her face as she took Maya's hand gently, careful to avoid the IV that was in it.

"Hi Bambina," Carina said, giving her hand a kiss, "I am so sorry this happened, but Meredith and Amelia and Owen and Maggie got you fixed up, and I am here now, and I'm not going anywhere."

Amelia did a few checks while Carina just held Maya's hand, staring at her face. A few minute later, Andy walked in, tears filling her eyes as she saw Maya.

"Oh my god," Andy said, hand over her mouth, causing Carina to look up.

"She's doing well," Amelia said, "I know it looks like a lot, but all of this is keeping her stable and monitoring her for problems."

"Maya," Andy said, going and sitting opposite Carina, "Bishop, I'm gonna need you to fight like hell and come back to us because Carina needs you, and I need you and the station needs you. You are going to be a godmother in like 8 months so I kinda need you to be here for that too."

Andy just stared at her friend for a long time, listening to the beeps of the monitors. She looked over after who knows how long, and saw Carina was either asleep or resting, her head on the bed, clutching Maya's hand in hers. She then heard the door open and saw her husband walk in.

"Dr. Shepard said three people would be ok for a few minutes," he said as Andy gave him a questioning look, "Are you ready to go home?"

"I guess," Andy said, looking back at Maya.

"She looks rough," Robert sighed as her wrapped his arms around his wife, "But she's Bishop. She'll pull through and probably still be stronger than half the guys in the station."

Andy laughed a little as fresh tears started running down her cheeks, "Yeah. True. I still can't believe this happened. It could have been anyone of us, and it wasn't even a fire. We were supposed to be safe. We got the fire out, and then this happens."

"I know," Robert said, holding her a little tighter, "It just reminds you how fragile life is."

Andy nodded, just staring at Maya for another minute before she and Robert left.

"Should we wake Carina up and try to get her to go home?" Robert asked, looking back at the door.

"She's not going to leave this room until Maya is awake and doing way better," Andy said, shaking her head, "With Andrew, she left to get coffee with Maya. They were going ten minutes tops, and they came back to a floor covered in blood. Maya said they sat in that room for hours until they were told he was gone. Carina blamed herself for leaving, for not catching that something was wrong because she wasn't there."

"She couldn't have…" Robert said, looking at Andy.

"No," Andy said, shaking her head, "No. He went into DIC and his blood just clotted too much. Dr. Hunt was with him when it started and he reacted immediately, and they still lost him, but still…"

Robert nodded as they headed out of the hospital, both of them beyond exhausted after working all night then spending all day in the hospital. Andy had knocked out on Robert for a few hours, but they needed real sleep.

Meanwhile, Amelia went back to check on Maya and Carina. She found Carina waking up, an absolutely terrified look on her face.

"Carina," Amelia said cautiously, "You alright?"

Carina started hyperventilating as she looked around the room, eyes darting fast and unfocused.

"Carina," Amelia said, quickly going to her friend's side, moving her away from Maya just in case, "Carina, hey. It's ok. You're at the hospital. Maya is hurt, but she's ok. It's ok. Can you look at me?"

Carina tried to pull away from Amelia, still panicking, but the neurosurgeon held her tightly.

"It's ok," Amelia said, Carina slowly calming a little before the heartbreaking sobs started.

"I'm right here," Amelia said, just holding Carina close, "It's going to be ok. Just let it out."

Carina cried for a long time, Amelia not letting her go.

Eventually, the Italian calmed down, wiping at her eyes.

"Sorry," Carina said as Amelia handed her a tissue.

"No," Amelia said, "I will not hear a sorry for that, but do you want to talk about it?"

"It was like a flashback," Carina sighed, looking at Maya, "To when Andrea…But this time, it was Maya."

Amelia nodded, just putting a hand on Carina's back, "Makes sense. This is probably very triggering."

Carina nodded with a sigh.

"Do you want me to sit with her so you can go put on not your scrubs?" Amelia asked, noticing for the first time her friend was still in her work clothes, "Or I can go get you some clothes."

"Can you go to my office?" Carina asked, "I have a pair of leggings and one of Maya's station sweatshirts there."

"Of course," Amelia nodded, "Anything else? Something to eat, maybe?"

"Honestly, I don't think I could put anything in my body right now," Carina said, shaking her head.

"Ok," Amelia nodded, "I will be back in a few minutes."

"Thank you," Carina nodded, stretching a little as Amelia left.

She stood up, her back aching from how she had been sleeping. She walked around the room a little, just trying to loosen her back up a little.

As she was about to sit back down, the door to the room opened and Dr. Bailey walked in.

"Hey," she said, looking at Carina, "How are you doing?"

"She's stable," Carina said, looking at the monitors before looking back at her boss, "And everyone seems to be optimistic that she'll be ok."

"That's not what I asked," Bailey said, going over to Carina, "I can read her chart and know how she is. I asked how you were doing."

"I am…" Carina started, trying to come up with the words, but struggling, "I am relieved she is alive and also terrified she is going to end up like Andrea and this is all very hard to not get pulled back to that day."

Bailey nodded, just putting a comforting hand on Carina's back.

"I worry about her every day," Carina said, eyes filling with tears, "With their jobs, having them run into fires, it is terrifying, but I have learned to just not think about it because I trust her and her team to do everything right, but this…They were in their engine. They were supposed to be safe. She texted me right before it happened, saying she was headed back to the station. I felt like I could breathe because she was safe for now, and then this happened and…"

"It makes it so much harder to ever feel like they are safe," Bailey said, nodding, "I felt the same way when Ben and Miller fell off that boat. He was supposed to be safe that night. He wasn't even working, and then I came so close to losing him forever."

Ever since she and Maya had started dating, Carina had gotten closer to Dr. Bailey, finding a kind of solidarity with the only other person she knew who really understood what she felt when Maya was working.

When there were larger fires, four and five alarms, the two women would often find themselves in the attendings longue together, watching the news and just being there for each other in their fear that this would be the event that would make them a widow.

Carina was grateful for the support as she learned to navigate the fear and anxiety that came from Maya's job, and in this moment, having Bailey there for support meant everything.

"Bishop is a fighter," Bailey said, "And there is one thing she will fight for more than anything else?"

"What?" Carina said, confused.

"You," Bailey said, "That woman loves you so much. Ben will tell me that when someone just mentions your name, the smile that flashed across her face is pure happiness and love."

Carina felt tears prick her eyes. She had heard this before from Travis who would often send her pictures he had sneakily taken of her wife when she was talking about her. She knew Maya loved her, but she also knew Andrea had loved her, and he didn't come back. She just pushed those thoughts out of her head for now, rubbing at her swollen eyes.

"Do you want me to get a cot in here for you?" Bailey asked, "Normally, I would tell you to go home, but this isn't normal circumstances."

"Thank you," Carina nodded, not even able to think about leaving the room right now without feeling the beginnings of a panic attack, "I keep telling myself this is not Andrea, that it is different, but it's like… I don't know."

"It's hard to not think of him when you are here with her," Bailey nodded, "I get it. You can stay as long as you need to. I think Amelia has already made that abundantly clear to the nurses, but I will make sure they know too."

Carina was beyond grateful that her friends were all making sure she was able to stay with Maya. Fighting her PTSD was hard enough without having to leave and worry that Maya would not be there when she got back.

"I will go get someone to bring a cot," Bailey said, "You need to try to get some actual sleep."

Carina nodded, looking at the clock and seeing it was only 4 pm, but considering the awkward 20 minute nap she had taken leaning on Maya's bed was the only sleep she had gotten in close to 36 hours combined with how traumatic the day had been, she was exhausted.

A few minutes after Bailey left, a nurse brought a cot in, helping Carina set it up.

"If you need anything, Dr. Deluca, just let us know," the nurse said, handing her a pillow.

"Thank you," Carina said, nodding as she yawned.

Carina looked at her phone for the first time in hours, seeing she had a message from Travis, telling her he had heard how Maya was doing and that he would come up and visit tomorrow if they were up for it.

She told him to text her before he did, but that it would be good to see him. She asked how he was doing, getting the response that he was doped up on good pain meds and not feeling too bad right now.

He also told her Vic was having a little bit of a rough time with the concussion, but that she had been properly medicated and was now resting better. The two of them were sharing a room which was helpful both to their friends who were visiting, and to the two best friends who found comfort in each other's presence.

Carina then went to answer the other texts from a few other friends. Everyone was checking in, offering her help and support, and telling her they would come see her soon.

Carina texted everyone back, thanking them and telling them to please wait to come until tomorrow. Carina honestly needed space to just be with Maya and let herself rest a little. She wasn't ready to be bombarded by people and noise.

Once all the texts were answered, Carina glanced at the clock, realizing Amelia had been gone close to an hour at this point. She was about to text her friend when the door opened again, the neurosurgeon walking in with a lot more than just Carina's clothes.

"So, I thought about just getting you your clothes, but then, I decided you needed to be comfortable so I stole your house keys and went and got you clothes and toiletries and then I ran by the Italian deli and got you a sandwich and some pastries," Amelia said, setting down what she had picked up, "And I can get whatever else you need."

"Amelia," Carina said, tears filling her eyes, "Thank you."

"You have had an unbelievably shitty day," Amelia said, sitting down in the chair, "You deserve to be taken care of a little."

"Thank you," Carina said as Amelia gave her a hug.

"I see Bailey got you a cot," Amelia said, gesturing to the bed.

"Si," Carina nodded, yawning a little.

"Ok," Amelia said, "Why don't you try to eat, just a little something, and then get some sleep. I will tell the nurses to keep all guests out until tomorrow. Do you want me to grab you a sedative so you can actually sleep tonight?"

"I…maybe," Carina said, thinking for a second, "Maybe just something I can take just in case I need it."

"Of course," Amelia nodded, "I'm going to eat with you and then I'll go grab it while you change."

Carina nodded, taking the food from Amelia. She made it through about half a sandwich before deciding she was done.

"I'll put this in the fridge in the longue," Amelia said, "Just tell anyone if you want it, just let someone know. Now, you need to drink some water, preferably this entire bottle, and I will get you more because all that crying probably has you very dehydrated and I would like Maya to be the only one in this room on IV fluids."

Carina nodded, taking the water bottle as Amelia got up.

"I will be back in five, ten minutes tops," the neurosurgeon said, "Get into not your scrubs, and I'll bring the sedative."

Carina nodded, feeling a little bit like a child with how Amelia was treating her, but honestly, it felt comforting to have someone taking care of her right now.

She opened the bag Amelia had brought from their house, finding one of her favorite t-shirts that used to belong to Maya but she had stollen before they even moved in together and a pair of sweat pants.

She almost started crying when she saw that Amelia had also brought a blanket Maya had given her after Andrea had died.

It had been the day after they had gone to the station to scream. Maya had gone out, Carina assumed to get groceries or maybe for a run. The Italian had been asleep, the first real sleep in almost a week, and had woken up to an empty apartment.

She was sad her girlfriend wasn't there, but knew Maya hadn't left since they got home from the hospital other than their trip to the station. The blonde had come in with her hands filled with groceries.

"I was hoping to be back before you were awake," Maya had said with a sigh as Carina got off the couch to help her with the groceries.

The Italian assured her it was fine, helping her put away the groceries. As she opened one bag, she found an incredibly soft blanket covered in snowflakes inside. She pulled it out, confused.

Maya explained that she had bought it for Carina, knowing Andrew loved snow. She also knew it was so soft and she knew Carina wasn't super into soft right now, but Maya wanted her, when she was ready, to remember that none of what happened was her fault and that she deserved all the comfort in the world.

Carina had broken down in tears right there and Maya had instantly felt bad, telling her she would return the blanket, but Carina had assured her that they were not sad tears. No one had ever done anything so simple and yet so incredibly meaningful for her, and it made Carina love Maya even more.

She had slept with that blanket every night Maya was working and was often curled up with it on the couch during the day. Amelia probably didn't know the significance of this blanket but having it with her right now meant so much to her.

She pulled out her toothbrush, staring at Maya, debating if she could go into the bathroom, leave Maya side for the amount of time it would take to use the bathroom and brush her teeth. Instead, she just walked over to her wife, holding her hand again.

"You are doing so great Bambina," Carina said, kissing her cheek gently, "I am so proud of how hard you are fighting right now, and I am not going anywhere."

Amelia walked in a few minutes later, looking at Carina.

"You couldn't leave her to brush your teeth could you?" she said, setting another bottle of water along with a bottle with a few pills in it on the little table.

"I…I was going to," Carina said, sighing.

"I will sit with her," Amelia said, "Right here. Go take care of yourself."

Carina nodded, stepping into the bathroom. She started brushing her teeth before using the bathroom for the first time in she couldn't remember how long before opening the door again so she could see Maya as she finished brushing.

Amelia smiled at her a little when she saw what her friend had done before going back to the neuro exam she was doing.

Carina finished, washing her face quickly before going back to Maya's side.

"Carina, you need to sleep," Amelia said, putting a hand on her friend's back, "She is doing well."

"And I am going to sit with her while you sleep," Jo said, walking in.

She had been wanting to come find Carina all day, but she had taken over her service and a lot of ladies were having babies.

"You don't have to do that," Carina said, shaking her head, "You have been working all day. You should go home and rest."

"I'm good," Jo said, "I am do behind on charts and am on call tonight so I will just work here and if they call me, I will run upstairs and do what needs doing and then come back. But you need rest if you are going to be here for her."

"Thank you," Carina said, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Carina, we are all here for you," Jo said, wrapping her friend and mentor in a hug.

Carina just leaned into the hug for a minute before pulling away.

"I am going to go home for the night," Amelia said, walking over to Carina, "But Dr. Wilson has agreed to do hourly neuro checks and page me if anything changes."

"Why Jo?" Carina said, confused.

"I am going to monitor her all night," Jo said, "So the room stays quiet so you can rest. I may be an OB now, but I do know how to do basic vitals and checks. I have a nurse who is going to pass me meds and fluids and blood as needed tonight."

"Thank you," Carina said, trying desperately not to start crying, "Both of you, for everything."

"Now," Amelia said, "Climb into bed, take a pill, and go to sleep."

"I want to skip the pill for now," Carina said, yawning as she walked to the cot as Jo turned off the lights, "I want to be able to wake up if she needs me."

"If you aren't asleep in an hour, you're taking one, even if I have to force it down your throat," Jo said, settling in a chair.

"Bye guys," Amelia said, heading out, "I will be back in the morning. Page me if anything, and I mean anything, changes."

Jo nodded as Carina waved before climbing into the cot, lying down. She stared at her wife as she did so, just wishing she could be at home in their bed with her instead of here, in the hospital, their beds separated.

"Carina, you need sleep," Jo said as the Italian sat up, "She's ok."

"I just want to hold her hand for a few minutes," Carina said, moving back to the chair she had been in earlier.

"I have an idea," Jo said after a minute, getting up, "Look out."

Jo carefully moved the cot so it was next to Maya's bed, making sure she had access to all the medical equipment, which was luckily mostly on Maya's right side save the IV bag which she pushed up to the top of the bed.

"Now you can hold her hand and sleep," Jo said, motioning for Carina to lay down, "Now, take a pill, and go to sleep. Amelia didn't give you something so strong that I won't be able to wake you up if I need to."

Carina nodded, taking the pill and water from Jo before laying down, her hand in Maya's as she closed her eyes, finally drifting off to sleep.

What did you think? Thanks for reading! If you have any ideas of where you would like to see this story go, let me know!