1. Chapter 1

Here you go!

"Is it broken?" Maya hissed as Andy and Vic helped her pull off her turn outs, "I heard something snap."

"We won't know until we get to the hospital," Vic said, cutting off Maya's pants up to her knee, "But that swelling around your knee does not look promising."

"Damn it," Maya groaned.

They had been in a fire, a three alarm. She had gone in with her team because she wasn't the commanding captain at the scene and they were still down a firefighter. They had been working on clearing the second floor, the visibility zero when Maya had suddenly fallen through a hole in the floor that no one knew was there. She had landed on the first floor, crying out in pain. She had tried to get up, managing to drag herself closer to the entrance before Miller and Gibson reached her, picking her up and carrying her out. Andy and Vic were waiting at the aid car for her.

"I'm going to start a line before we go," Vic said, grabbing an IV kit, "And I'll give you something for the pain too."

"Gotta embrace the pain," Maya said, smiling at her friend.

"How about you embrace the pain once we know what's going on," Vic said, placing the line and starting fluids.

"How about just some Toradol?" Maya said, counter, "At least until we know what's going on?"

"That's probably smart," Andy said, "They're going to want to check her for a concussion at the hospital."

"I don't have a concussion," Maya groaned, "My head didn't even hit the ground until way after my leg which softened the blow."

"Let's get going," Andy said, "The sooner we get to Grey Sloan, the faster we can get you feeling better."

"I'm fine," Maya said as they put her up in the aid car, "It just hurts. Carina's been trying to get me to open up more about how I feel so I feel like this hurts."

Andy and Vic both laughed as Andy climbed up to drive while Vic sat in the back with Maya. As Andy started driving, Vic pushed a little Toradol.

"Did that help?" Vic asked after checking her vitals and seeing that Maya's heart rate had gone down a little.

"A little," Maya said, nodding, "I mean, it still hurts a lot, but that took the edge off."

"We will be at Grey Sloan in 2 minutes," Andy called back.

"Herrera, you are in charge for the rest of shift," Maya said.

"Shift ends in twenty minutes," Andy called back, "I think I'll let Gibson take this one because he's still at the scene."

"Sounds good," Maya said back, eyes closing a little, "Shit."

"What?" Vic said, immediately worried she was in pain.

"Carina," Maya said, "I need to call Carina. She's gonna flip if she sees my name on the ER board."

"I'll call her as soon as we get you squared away," Vic promised as Andy pulled into the ambulance bay.

"31-year-old female complaining of knee pain after a single-story fall," Vic said as the ambulance doors were opened, "Patient has been awake and oriented. I gave 5 mg Toradol about three minutes ago. Knee is swollen and tender to the touch."

"Captain Bishop," Meredith Grey said as she came to meet the gurney, lifting up the blanket they had covered her with, seeing the swelling in the knee, "Let's get Dr. Lincoln down here and someone page Carina DeLuca."

"Hey Dr. Grey," Maya said. "Did you mean Andrew Deluca?" one of the interns asked, "Or is she pregnant or something?"

"No," Maya said, "Carina's my girlfriend."

The intern's face reddened a little before going off to do as she was asked.

"Maya," Link said, meeting them in Trauma 1, "Not exactly how I was hoping to see you next."

"Same Link," Maya said, wincing as they moved her from the gurney to the bed.

"Well, let me see what you did to this knee," he pulled up the blanket, looking at the knee, "Ok, that swelling does not look good. I'm gonna want a portable x-ray stat."

"And someone page Neuro," Meredith called.

"I didn't hit my head," Maya said, shaking her head, "I landed on my left leg."

"I still want to have Amelia check you out," Meredith said, "Just to be safe."

Maya nodded, knowing hospital procedure. Plus, she couldn't be mad because she liked Amelia Shepard. Amelia and Carina walked in together, laughing until Carina saw who the patient was.

"Maya," she gasped, going to her, "Oh my god, what happened? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Maya said, "I just fell through the floor and did something to my knee."

Carina looked to Link.

"I'm about to get an x-ray," Link said as one of the interns rolled the machine in, "Now, I'm pretty sure I know the answer to this one, but I have to ask: is there any chance you might be pregnant?"

"No," Maya said, shaking her head.

"Alright," Link said as someone laid a lead blanket over Maya before taking the x-ray.

He went to review it while Amelia did her neuro exam.

"Your head is still enacted," Amelia said, nodding as she finished, "Which is a bummer because that means you are going to continue to kick my ass at game night."

"Good," Maya said, cracking a little smile.

"So it looks like you fractured your tibial plateau," Link said, coming over with his tablet, pulling up the x-rays, "Which is basically your lower knee and it's going to require surgery."

"No," Maya said, eyes filling with tears as Carina held her hand.

"Unfortunately, yes," Link said, "Now, what I want to do is use three screws because I think the break is small enough that that should be sufficient, and your young and your bones are strong."

"Apparently not that strong," Maya said, wiping at the tears in her eyes, "What is the recovery for this?"

"It'll be one to two nights in the hospital, depending on how you do. Then, twelve weeks of non-weight baring," Link said, cringing as he watched Maya's face, "And probably 12 to 18 months before you are 100%, but I'm guessing that it'll maybe take 4-5 months before you're ready to go back to your normal job. Normally, I would expect it to be longer, but knowing what I know about you, I'm betting you'll blow expectations out of the water."

Carina looked down at Maya, watching the fear and panic wash over her.

"Can we have the room for a minute?" Carina asked, knowing Maya was going into a panic attack.

All her colleagues nodded.

"I'm going to go book an OR," Link said as he left, "I'll be back in ten."

Once the room was empty, Carina looked at Maya.

"Hey," Carina said, climbing into bed next to Maya, careful not to jostle her, "Hey, eyes on me. I'm right here. It is going to be alright."

Maya took a few minutes, but she calmed down in Carina's arms.

"How am I going to do this?" Maya asked, rubbing her eyes, "I'm captain. What am I going to do?"

"You can rest," Carina said, stroking Maya's hair, "And you can get better. And maybe there will be something you can do."

Maya nodded, wiping the tears from her eyes again.

"It's going to be alright Bella," Carina said, "And I will be here with you the whole time. We've been talking about moving in together for a few weeks so this is a good reason to pull the finger."

"The trigger," Maya said, laughing, "And yeah. You're probably right."

They just sat there for a few minutes, Carina playing with Maya's hair that had started to grow back in after she chopped it off three months ago. Link knocked before coming in a few minutes later.

"Alright," he said, "I have an OR for you in about an hour and a half. One of the nurses is going to bring you up to pre op."

"Can I have something for the pain?" Maya asked, shifting uncomfortably.

"Of course," Link said, knowing that the fire captain was not one to complain so she must really have been hurting, "I'll have the nurse get you some fentanyl. Once we get that break fixed, your pain levels should go down. Carina is welcome to stay with you until we take you back."

"Can my team come up?" Maya asked, having looked at her phone and saw that everyone was blowing it up.

"Of course," Link said, "I'll let the nurses know to let them up."

"Thanks Link," Maya said.

Maya grabbed her phone, texting her team that she was fine, she was going to have surgery, and that they were welcome to stop by, but they did not need to come by. She was going to be fine. Everyone said they would be by at some point. Maya was then transferred up to Pre op, Carina holding her hand the entire time. Once they were there, Maya was given some hard pain meds. She felt it immediately, leaning back and closing her eyes.

"How are you feeling Bella?" Carina asked, stroking the back of her hand.

"Sleepy," Maya said, "We fought that fire all night and then I fell through a stupid hole. It was so dumb."

"You can sleep," Carina said, kissing her cheek.

"I'm too uncomfortable," Maya said, shaking her head, "And besides, Andy and Vic are going to be here any minute."

"Do you need anything?" Carina asked as Maya shifted a little.

"A new knee," Maya said, cracking a smile, "Other than that, I'm good."

"I'm sorry Bella," Carina said, frowning.

"It's fine," Maya said, "Embrace the pain right?"

"Maya," Carina said in a little bit of a warning tone.

"I'm kidding," Maya said, "Kinda. I mean, in this case, there's nothing I can do but embrace the pain. Or curl up in a ball and die."

"I know," Carina said, rubbing the back of Maya's hand before kissing it.

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in," Maya called as the door opened.

Vic, Andy, and Travis stepped in, looking exhausted and worried.

"Hey Captain," Travis said as they came in.

"So what's the prognosis?" Vic said.

"Broken tibia," Maya said with a sigh, "I'm having surgery in an hour. I'm going to be out of commission for like 4 months."

"What?" Andy said, sitting down in one of the chairs in the room.

"Yeah," Maya said, nodding, "So there's probably going to be an interim captain. I haven't called anyone yet. Andy, you and Jack can alternate until they get someone in and…"

"Maya," Andy said, stopping her best friend, "We will get it taken care of. You just focus on getting better. How long are they going to keep you here?"

"A night or two," Maya said with a sigh.

"Are you in a lot of pain?" Vic asked, seeing Maya shift in the bed.

"They gave me some fentanyl," Maya said, shrugging, "It hurts, but it's not unbearable. Hey, Vic, Carina is going to move in if that's still ok."

"Yeah," Vic said, nodding, "Of course."

The two roommates had had this conversation a month ago when Maya had first gotten the idea to ask Carina to move in. Just then, a nurse walked in.

"Hey guys," she said, going and checking Maya's fluids and monitors, "How is the pain?"

"I'm good," Maya said.

"Alright," the nurse said, "Well, they are just cleaning the OR from the last surgery so I will be back in about ten minutes to get you prepped."

Maya nodded as the nurse left.

"We can go," Travis said, "If you want some space."

"I don't mind either way," Maya said, shrugging as Carina brushed a piece of hair off her face.

They all stayed until the nurse came back in, just chatting.

"Alright," the nurse said, "I need to prep Captain Bishop for surgery. You all can see her in post op."

Vic, Andy, and Travis all hugged her before leaving.

"Can she stay?" Maya asked, not letting go of Carina's hand.

"Of course," the nurse said, nodding.

She got Maya ready to go, putting a hair net on her and giving her a little medication to calm her down. Carina walked with them the entire way to the OR, holding Maya's hand until she was asleep before going back to the OB floor.

She checked in on all her patients, no one progressing very much at all. She told the nurse she was going to go wait in the waiting area for Maya and to page her if they needed anything.

When Carina got to the waiting area, she found Vic, Andy, Travis, Jack, and Ben all sitting there.

"Dean wanted to be here, but Pru is teething and not feeling well," Vic said as Carina sat down.

"What are you all doing here?" Carina asked, sitting down next to Vic.

"She's our captain and friend," Travis said, "There's no where else we need to be."

Carina nodded, her eyes filling with tears. She wiped them away quickly. She knew the team was close, but times like this showed her just how amazing Maya's work family truly was. She knew that they fought and struggled just like any family, but when it mattered, they rallied behind their own.

She didn't love the fact that Jack was there. Even though she and Maya had moved on from the cheating incident, Carina still didn't like seeing the man her girlfriend had cheated on her with. However, she knew he was part of Maya's work family and decided that she could just ignore him for the day.

Carina's own friends stopped by and checked in when they had a free moment. It took about an hour before Link came out.

"Good news," he said, smiling at all of them, "She came through with flying colors. She's in post op right now, but we are going to move her in about a half hour. Carina, you are welcome to come up to post-op. Everyone else, I can let you know when we move her to the floor."

"We'll be here," Ben said, nodding as Carina got up.

They say write what you know, and unfortunately, I know breaking your tibia quite well. In February of this year, I learned how to ski and then the following day broke my knee during a fall and had to have surgery to repair it. It was actually the worst. All I kept thinking after I broke it was that I hoped I passed out so the pain would stop. Recovery was long, and I'm still not even all the way back to where I was before the injury. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this story! Another chapter tomorrow!