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“It's getting worse out there,” Sullivan commented as he stood at the window in the beanery. The snowstorm had started earlier that day and had resulted in the team being called to a multi-car pile up on the highway that morning, which they had only recently returned from.
Maya hummed from her seat at the table. They were the only two up there, but she was distracted looking at her phone.
“Earth to Bishop,” he walked over and sat down opposite her. “Looking at pictures of your beautiful baby again?” he teased.
She glanced up at him and sighed, shaking her head. “I am worrying about how my 7 month pregnant wife and my beautiful baby are going to get home from the hospital. She’s due to finish soon, but the roads are so treacherous out there now and she has that stupid shitty hire car while hers is in the garage. I should have let her take mine…”
Maya ran a hand through her hair. “Carina keeps saying they will be alright, but I just cannot stop thinking that something might happen. I really don't want our next call out to be to her.”
“Well as it stands there won’t be a next call out,” Andy’s voice joined the conversation. The rest of the team followed her in, obviously having been called for a meeting. “We are officially on community relief. Power’s out a couple of blocks away, we’re being designated as a warm hub. Sullivan and Ruiz, I want you to go out and spread the word. Take the appropriate gear.”
Andy continued giving orders around setting up the station, and Maya honestly did try to pay attention, but her eyes were drawn to the still falling snow outside, and the clock on the wall. Carina was due to finish work in half an hour, she’d pick Liam up from the daycare, and they’d have to drive home.
“Bishop!” her Captain’s voice pulled Maya back to the room, though not without making her jump slightly. It appeared to not be the first time Andy had tried to get her attention, and on further inspection Maya realised they were the only two left in the room.
“Sorry captain, I’ve just-”
Andy shook her head, interrupting her. “Relax Maya, I know you’re worried about Carina. I’m giving you permission to go and collect them from Grey-Sloan and bring them here. Your house is close to the blackout zone, if it spreads you don’t want them stuck at home, and we always love a visit from our favourite probie.”
She let out the breath she’d been holding, “thank you. I swear I’ll be quick, I’ll help wherever you need me when I’m back.”
“Maya, as long as you’re here, you can look after your wife, Liam, and our new recruit. There’s enough of us to handle the rest,” Andy placed a hand on her shoulder. “Go and get your family before it gets any worse out there. Take it steady.”
Without hesitation, Maya grabbed her jacket and car keys before heading out.
When she’d arrived at the hospital she’d found Carina was with a patient, which explained why the phone call Maya had made in the car had gone unanswered. She thanked the nurse for the information and made her way down to the daycare instead.
Liam was sitting at one of the tables with his favourite cup when she arrived. The cup was quickly discarded, however, when he spotted her. “Mommy!!” he pushed himself off the chair, and toddled over as fast as his little legs could carry him.
Emma, one of the daycare workers, smiled at Maya as she crouched down to meet her little whirlwind. He ran straight into her arms and Maya stood up holding him as Liam snuggled into her. “Hey probie,” she kissed his head gently.
“Mommy fire?” he asked, clearly realising that Maya was still in her work clothes. He hadn’t grasped the word ‘work’, so Maya would get ‘fire’ while Carina would get ‘baby’, which sometimes did cause confusion with her pregnant wife.
“Yeah buddy, Mommy’s still working, but I’ve come to get you and Mamma. We’re all going to have a sleepover at the fire station, does that sound fun?”
He perked up in her arms, “tucks?!”
Maya chuckled, “yeah the trucks will be there.”
“Go now!” he pointed at the door over her shoulder, making both Emma and Maya laugh.
“We need to wait for Mamma first, baby,” she gently tickled under his arm to make him scrunch up adorably with little giggles. “Shall we get your things together? Can you show me where your coat is?”
Liam wiggled to get down and Maya bent down to let him free, where he immediately toddled over to the little hooks where their coats were hung up.
For the next few minutes, she followed her son around the daycare room as he got distracted from the coat collection to show Mommy how he could stack the blocks.
“Maya? Why are you here?”
“Mamma mamma mamma!!” Liam pushed himself up to standing, knocking over his blocks in the process. After a brief moment looking at the destroyed pile, he continued his journey over to where Carina was standing, immediately hugging her legs, and then almost trying to pull her towards the door. “Tucks now!”
Carina raised an eyebrow, “trucks? Where are the trucks tesoro? Maya did something happen?”
Standing herself back up, Maya went to join them to explain. “I’ve come to take you to the station. It’s really bad out there, Carina, and the power is out not far from ours. It’ll be safer at 19.”
“Are you sure?” Carina asked, a hand resting on her bump. “I don’t want to be in the way, bambina.”
Maya placed her hand on top of her wife’s. “You won’t be, this was Andy’s idea. The station is being turned into a community warm hub anyway so we won’t be called out, and B-shift got the Christmas decs up so it’s kinda cosy in there.”
There was a small hum of acknowledgement as Carina leant gently into Maya’s hold, however the moment was very quickly broken.
“Tucks!!”
And that was their cue to leave.
Even in the short time Maya had been at the hospital the snow had worsened, and she was grateful to get her wife and children to the station without any incident. When they arrived, the place had already been transformed. Makeshift beds, cosy corners, and plenty of food already cooking. There were also plenty of civilians inside already, and Liam’s excitement about the trucks had quickly dissipated when he saw the high number of strangers.
He’d quickly latched onto Maya, who lifted him back up and held him close, comforting him gently and reassuring him it was okay. They decided to go straight to Maya’s bunk where it would be quieter.
“Hey,” Maya got her son’s attention. “You know what this room is missing?”
Liam looked around, confused as he sat curled into Carina on Maya’s bed.
Taking that as a no, Maya reached under the bed and pulled out a box. “A christmas tree! Mommy bought a little one for her bunk, but I haven’t put it up yet. Reckon you can help me, probie?”
“Tee! Chrima!” he immediately perked up, “ights?”
Maya pulled the tree from the box, “it has lights on already, can you help me put the branches down and then we can turn them on?”
She set it on the table while Carina shifted forward with Liam, helping him to move the branches down by guiding his little hands. Maya had to stop and take a picture - it was way too adorable. After she had, Carina looked up and smiled at her. Maya returned it, before turning her attention back to the tree.
Once the branches were down, Maya switched the lights on, much to the delight of her son who clapped his hands and giggled with glee. “Yeah probie, isn't it pretty?! Shall we put some decorations on? I got some little baubles especially.”
She'd never decorated her bunk before. A lot of them did, but Maya had never really felt the need… until now. While Carina had somewhat changed her outlook on Christmas, the arrival of Liam had, as her wife put it, turned Maya into Mrs Claus with a clipboard - something which had now made it to work too. On her last day off, she'd been and purchased the tree and associated decorations, and now she was really glad she hadn't got round to putting them up yet.
“Mommy!” Liam lurched towards her and Maya had to act quickly to catch him, with Carina's bump making it difficult for her to keep him in place. “I put!” he announced proudly, not bothered by the small heart attack he'd given his Mamma by moving so fast.
They spent the next few minutes decorating the small tree together, with Maya sitting down on the bed so all three of them could work together. Liam enthusiastically tried and failed to hang the baubles, with Carina catching them each time they were dropped from his little hands.
When they finished the tree (with Maya standing Liam on her knees to put the small star on top), the three of them ended up lying back on the bed. Liam was slowly falling asleep, and Maya could tell Carina was exhausted too.
“It sounds busy out there,” Carina muttered sleepily. They barely fit on the single bed in Maya’s bunk these days, with Carina’s 7-month pregnant belly, but they’d just about made it work. “Should we help?”
“You’re almost asleep my love,” Maya kissed the top of her wife’s head. “I should go and check though. Why don’t you and probie have a sleep together and I’ll wake you up with some food in a bit?”
There was a subtle hum of agreement from Carina, who also let out a small whine of complaint as Maya extracted herself. Liam also whimpered slightly, but soon settled when his Mamma rubbed his back in just the way he liked, and their 18-month-old quickly wrapped himself around Carina’s bump, immediately melting Maya’s heart - it was something he’d been doing since she’d started showing and it was one of her favourite sights.
Reluctantly, she left the room, and immediately walked into organised chaos. There were a lot of people around, but everyone seemed to know what they were doing or where they belonged. She walked through until she found Andy in the barn. “Hey, how’s it going?” she asked, straightening her shirt.
“All under control, numbers are manageable. How are you doing? Are Carina and Liam alright?” Andy asked, walking towards her office - Maya following.
Maya nodded, “they’re sleeping. We put up a little tree in my bunk,” she pulled out her phone and showed her a picture of Liam grabbing at a bauble.
“He’s so precious!” Andy smiled at the photo. “You can go back if you want, I know every moment is special right now. I’m surprised Carina even let you go, you said she’s been clingy.”
She laughed. It was true, the last couple of weeks Carina had been somewhat of a limpet. “She was the one who wanted to come and help. I told her I’d come out while she slept,” Maya explained, glancing back towards where she’d come from. “Thank you for letting them come here.”
“Maya they’re family, they’re always welcome, and hey - it’s almost Christmas,” she shrugged, opening her office door. “Oh, Jack’s up in the beanery if you wanted to say hi.”
Maya nodded a thank you, leaving her to it.
She was highly focussed on chopping mushrooms when Carina made her jump. “You didn’t come back,” she mumbled, wrapping her right arm around Maya and leaning her chin on her shoulder.
Deciding against berating her wife for almost causing Maya to lose a thumb, she put the knife down instead. “I’m sorry my love, I got caught up here. Where’s our probie?”
“He found uncle Jack, we are no longer his favourite people in the building,” Carina huffed. Her relationship with Jack always amused Maya, but they both secretly loved how much Jack and Liam got along. Liam adored ‘JaJa’. “I was going to make you biscotti tonight.”
Maya couldn’t help but smile at how upset her wife seemed about this, “it’s okay, you can make them another day.”
“But it’s nearly Christmas, bambina, I promised you biscotti!”
“We will make them together at the weekend, okay? For now, how about I help Cutler finish up this dish and then we can all get settled back in my bunk for a little family feast?”
Carina hummed, her head still resting on Maya’s shoulder. “If you want to be out here that’s okay, I know you’re working.”
Maya turned her head to kiss her wife’s. “When I could be having a bonus festive night in with my three favourite people? Absolutely not. They're stealing me away for Christmas Eve as it is,” she huffed with annoyance. She'd already communicated her displeasure at the shift pattern to multiple people.
“You have to do your job bambina, and we need your leave for this little one,” Carina rubbed her bump. “You'll be back Christmas morning.”
“But I wanted to do Christmas Eve with you and Liam,” she mumbled, well aware she sounded like an impatient child. “Seattle had better behave that night so I can get some sleep and enjoy Christmas day.”
“It will be perfect, even if you need a nap,” Carina stood up. “I will go and find our little turbinio [whirlwind] and you will bring me some of this food very soon, bene?”
“Prometto,” Maya smiled softly, turning back to help Cutler, who had been pretending not to notice them the whole time.
When Maya returned to the bunk room she found Carina in there alone. “You appear to be missing someone?”
“Andy stole him, I'm honestly not sure when we will see our son again,” Carina chuckled, though neither of them were really concerned, knowing he would be well looked after. “You have food?” she asked, eyeing the tray in Maya's hands and shifting to sit up on the bed.
“I do indeed, everyone's favourite chilli recipe,” she sat down and handed a bowl to her. They both ate in relative silence, but Maya found herself smiling at how Carina inhaled her food.
Once they'd finished she put her bowls down, and Maya lay down, accepting Carina into her arms. “Are you okay here? I know it's not the most comfortable-”
“Bambina I am snuggled up with my wife, my turbinio is having fun with many of his favourite people, and we are safe from the storm - thanks to you,” she looked up to kiss Maya softly. “It might not be the most traditional family night in, but it is perfetto to me.”
Maya rubbed her back gently. She would probably say this wasn't the most comfortable position she'd ever lay in, but as long as Carina was comfortable she didn't really care. The outside was cold and dangerous, but in here they were safe, and that's all that mattered.