Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

The days following the end of Carina’s treatment were relatively calm. They were pretty similar to the days while she was in treatment except that instead of having to go to the hospital at noon every day, Carina got to stay home, curled up in bed or on the couch and rest which was so much better.

Carina’s body was still absolutely spent from her treatment and most of her days were spent resting the majority of the day. Her stomach was still very sensitive, but she seemed to have found a good balance with her meds that allowed her to at least get some food down most of the time.

Maya was working from home still to make sure Carina was well taken care of, though they both agreed that on Monday, Maya would go back to work in the office for at least half days because slowly, Carina was starting to regain her strength. Maya knew she needed to be back in the office again just so everyone could come talk to her in person more often and she just kept telling herself that Carina was fine, but it still made her incredibly nervous. She tried not to think about it and instead focused on taking care of her wife and daughters.

Nora and Rowan were both doing pretty well also. They were still more clingy then they had been prior to Carina’s hospital admission, but with how tired Carina still was, she didn’t mind that they wanted to sit in her lap and have her read to them more often than they wanted to run around the house getting into things they should not.

All in all, the Bishop-Deluca’s were doing well.

Friday was another normal day for the family for the most part. Maya worked from home all day, picking up the girls from daycare along with pho at her wife’s request. They had eaten dinner as a family and then taken a short walk because Carina was feeling well enough to do it, stopping to play at the park for a while.

“I am so much more grateful for these trips to the park now than I think I ever was before,” Maya said as she watched Carina catch Nora at the bottom of the slide.

“Me too,” Carina agreed, tickling Nora a little as Rowan yelled across the playground for Maya to come help her with the monkey bars.

After about twenty minutes, Carina was starting to get tired so she went and sat down on one of the benches, just watching her wife chase their girls around, snapping a few pictures. As the twins went to climb on the equipment again, Maya jogged over to Carina.

“You ok?” she asked, sitting down next to her wife, “We can go it you are too tired.”

“No,” Carina said, shaking her head, “I am fine. I just needed a little break.”

“Ok,” Maya said, leaning down and pressing a kiss to Carina’s lips.

“Mommy,” Rowan called, drawing Maya back to the playground.

They stayed for a while longer before going home to get the twins ready for bed. Maya did baths for them, Carina taking out pajamas before sitting down in the rocking chair in the twin’s room, trying to rally for bedtime. She hated that something as simple as going to the park for less than an hour made her this tired, but she tried to remind herself that a week ago, going to the park was too much. She must have fallen asleep because the next thing she knew, Rowan was standing in front of her wrapped in a towel, her little hand on Carina’s knee.

“Mamma sweepin?” she asked.

“I think I was,” Carina said, stretching a little bit, “Did you have a good bath?”

“Si,” Rowan nodded, shivering a little in her towel.

“Come here,” Carina smiled, getting out of the chair to help the little girl.

“You ok?” Maya asked, walking in with Nora in her arms, seeing the slightly dazed look on her wife’s face.

“Si,” Carina said as she handed Nora’s pajamas to Maya, “I just dozed off for a minute.”

“I can do bedtime,” Maya said as she rubbed lotion on Nora’s legs.

“No, I am ok,” Carina said, putting Rowan’s diaper on her, “I will probably go to bed early tonight though.”

“Ok,” Maya said as they finished getting the girls ready for bed.

After Carina read them two books and Maya sang them a song, the girls were on their way to being asleep.

“Are you going to go to bed?” Maya asked as they walked out of the twins’ room.

“I might,” Carina said with a yawn, “What are you going to do?”

“I need to pack my bag for tomorrow,” Maya said, “And make sure everything is ready to go.”

“I almost forgot your race is tomorrow,” Carina said as Maya wrapped her arms around her waist, “Are you ready?”

“I think so,” Maya nodded, “I mean, I need to get everything together, but I am physically feeling pretty ready.”

“Good,” Carina said, smiling at her, “How are you feeling mentally? I know you haven’t done a race since the Olympics.”

“I feel good I think,” Maya said, “I was a little worried that this might bring up some old Lane stuff, but so far, it hasn’t. And I think that’s because I am doing this for you, for people like you, and not for a medal or my dad or anything.”

“Good,” Carina said, “But you promise you will tell me if that changed?”

“I promise,” Maya nodded as Carina pulled her in for a hug, “Now, do you want me to come to bed until you fall asleep?”

“I don’t think I’m ready to go to bed yet,” Carina said, leaning her head on Maya’s shoulder.

“Ok,” Maya said, chuckling, “What do you want to do?”

“Non lo so,” Carina said, rubbing her eyes as she pulled away from Maya, “I could help you get your bag together for tomorrow.”

“No, that will take me like twenty minutes,” Maya said, “I don’t need much.”

“Oh, we could…” Carina started but then stopped, “No, never mind.”

“What?” Maya asked, confused, “What were you going to say?”

“Do you remember when I was in the hospital when I was sick?” Carina asked, feeling Maya stiffen a little in her arms.

“I will never forget that,” Maya said, taking two deep breaths to calm the anxiety she could feel bubbling as she was brought back to that time.

“I know,” Carina said softly, “I am sorry. But do you remember when we talked about taking a trip?”

“Oh, yeah,” Maya nodded, “Do you want to work on planning one?”

“Do you think we will be able to make it work?” Carina asked, “I know you have taken a lot of days off recently…”

“I actually talked to the chief about it already,” Maya said, “And he told me it would be more than fine. I will go grab my laptop and make you some tea. Do you want to be in bed or on the couch?”

“Couch I think,” Carina said, “I am very tired of our bed after the last few months.”

“I mean, beds are for more than sleeping,” Maya said, raising her eyebrows at her wife.

Carina sighed, looking down and pulling away from Maya a little bit.

“Sorry I haven’t been up for that recently,” Carina said, biting her lip, “I know it’s not fair to you and…”

“Hey, Carina, no,” Maya said, realizing she had said the exact wrong thing, “That’s not what I meant. I am fine with us not having sex for the past few months. It’s ok.”

“So you are telling me you don’t miss it at all?” Carina asked, raising an eyebrow, hits of anger and hurt dancing across her features, “Are you not attracted to me anymore?”

“No,” Maya said, trying to backtrack this conversation, “No, that is not what I meant. I just meant that I know that your body has been working hard to heal, and while I miss our amazing sex life, I would give it up forever if it meant that you were healthy and here with me. I still find you incredibly sexy and as soon as you are ready, I am very ready to get back to the physical aspects of our relationship, but I do not want you to feel any pressure or anything like that. I will wait as long as you need me to, ok?”

“What if it’s not the same?” Carina asked, still not looking at her wife, “What if…what if radiation damaged my sex drive or even just changed my vagina in ways that make everything harder?”

“Then we will work through it and get help if we need it and figure it out,” Maya said, bringing Carina closer to her again, “Carina, I love you and find you extremely attractive and I cannot think of anything that would ever make me less attracted to you. We will find our rhythm again once you have had more time to heal, and I promise that whatever it looks like, whether it is the same as before or if we have to do something different, you know I am never opposed to mixing things up in our sex life. Things are going to be ok Carina. And I promise you I am very very much attracted to you.”

Carina finally lifted her eyes up, tears streaming down her cheeks and just as Maya was about to say something else, Carina quickly planted her lips directly on Maya’s, kissing her passionately.

“Grazie Bambina,” Carina said as she pulled away, “I…You always know exactly what to say to make me feel better. Grazie.”

“Sempre Carina,” Maya said, holding Carina’s face in her hands.

They stood there for another second before Maya broke the moment.

“Now, you go curl up on the couch, and I will be down in a minute and we can work on planning this vacation,” Maya said, smiling at her wife.

Carina nodded, giving Maya one more quick kiss before going downstairs. Soon enough, they were both curled up on the couch, Maya pulling out her laptop.

“Ok,” Maya said, going into a folder on her desktop, “So, I have some ideas depending on where you want to go.”

“What is all of this?” Carina asked, looking over and seeing there were multiple documents on her wife’s screen, “When did you do all of this?”

“When I couldn’t sleep the past couple weeks,” Maya said, “Something about working on this helped calm me down.”

“Oh Bambina,” Carina said, frowning a little at the thought of her wife’s sleepless nights.

“It’s ok,” Maya shrugged, “But anyway, I have quite a few places planned and researched and everything. So are you thinking you want to do a road trip or a short flight or a long flight or a really long flight?”

“I love the organization Bambina,” Carina laughed, “When do you want to take this trip?”

“Well, I was thinking we could go in August or maybe early September,” Maya said, “But we can go whenever. I was just thinking maybe we could go right before your three month follow up? Or we can go earlier or later. I just want to make sure you have enough time to heal and are feeling well enough to enjoy the trip.”

“Ok,” Carina nodded, thinking, “Well, I am hoping to be able to go back to work by the beginning of July, just for a few half-days a week and then work myself up to my normal schedule as I start feeling better.”

“Do you think you will be able to get time off?” Maya asked, “If not, I could get something planned and we can go in two weeks before you go back.”

“I don’t know,” Carina sighed, cuddling closer to her wife, “It would probably be better if we can wait. I should be able to get vacation time because I am on medical leave right now. Let’s plan for August. We could even go for your birthday.” “We could,” Maya nodded, “If that’s what you want to do.”

“Let’s plan for that now,” Carina nodded, “Now, I don’t really want to do a really long flight. That sounds like a lot, and while I’m hoping I will be feeling better by then, there is a very real possibility I won’t be and that sounds like too much. What are the places on your short flight or drive list?”

“So on the drive list, we could go to Vancouver or Portland, or some of the smaller towns by the ocean in Washington or Oregon,” Maya said, “For the short flights, I was thinking like San Francisco or LA or we could even go back to Palm Springs in California. I know those are still decently long flights, but if we went to San Francisco, I think my mom would probably drive up and spend some time with us which might be nice because then I could take you out on a date without the bambine.”

“It would be nice to see your mom,” Carina said.

Katherine had moved to Fremont, California not long after Maya and Carina got married to live closer to her sister and to put some distance between herself and her ex-husband to avoid running into him and to ensure she wouldn’t go back to him. Being away from her children had been hard for her, especially now that there were three of them, but she tried to FaceTime as often as possible, and Maya, Carina, Mason, Laila, and all the kids had gone down for Thanksgiving the year before which had been nice.

Neither Maya nor Mason had an incredibly close relationship with Katherine, but after growing up without grandparents, they wanted their kids to at least get to know their mom.

For Nora and Rowan, Katherine was their only grandparent left who they would even know if their parents had a say in it.

“Ok,” Maya said, nodding, “I have some cute little VRBOs we can look at or if you want to stay at a hotel, I have a few of those too.”

“Did you know I was going to pick this one?” Carina asked as her wife opened a very full document, “You have so many things here.”

“I have this much for every place,” Maya said, biting her lip as Carina’s eyes went wide, “You were in the hospital for a week and I wasn’t sleeping well then or after you came home. And this was kinda fun.”

“Bambina, as much as I appreciate this, sleeping is more important,” Carina said, looking at her wife, “Are you still having these sleeping issues?”

“They come and go,” Maya said, not looking at her wife, “I did talk about them with Diane this week though. I haven’t had a nightmare in three nights which is progress.”

“Ok,” Carina said, glad her wife was talking to her therapist, “Well, I want you to wake me up if you are having these nightmares. Not planning twenty vacations.”

“I promise I am ok,” Maya said, looking at Carina, “You need to sleep and I am getting enough sleep. Tonight, it might be questionable because of the race tomorrow, but that is not a big deal.”

“Fine,” Carina said, “But I want to be here for you just like you are here for me.”

“I know,” Maya said, “I promise I will let you know when I am having a hard time sleeping. I might not wake you up every single time, but I will tell you in the morning, ok?”

“Fine,” Carina sighed, knowing she wasn’t going to get Maya to budge on her needing sleep.

“Now, back to vacation,” Maya said, looking back at her screen, “So, hotel or rental house?”

They spent the next hour talking about and planning their vacation, booking their flights and looking at a few things Maya thought they might enjoy.

By 9 pm though, Carina was struggling to keep her eyes open and Maya forced her off the couch and up to bed. The blonde was going to get into bed with her wife until she fell asleep, but Carina was out before Maya could even get her pajamas on.

Maya pulled the covers up, pressing a kiss to Carina’s forehead before going over to her dresser and pulling out what she would need for the following day. She pulled out her favorite running leggings, socks, and sports bra along with a special t-shirt she had made for this race that had a small cervical cancer ribbon on the front with Carina’s name under it and the words “I am running for my wife” on the back. She hadn’t shown it to anyone yet, but she was excited to wear it tomorrow. She laid out her clothes on her dresser before grabbing out a change of clothes before heading downstairs where she had her bag she was taking with her tomorrow.

She had to leave the house by 7 am tomorrow and luckily, Andrew was going to come over and help Carina out in the morning. Maya had asked for his help tomorrow the week before when Carina was really struggling and they had no idea how she would be feeling on the day of Maya’s race. Maya was happy that he was coming because even though Carina would probably be able to handle the girls on her own for the morning, she was still exhausted and was sleeping until 8 or 9 most mornings.

The race didn’t start until 9:30, but she had to get checked in and make sure everything was in order to start the race. She went through her bag again, making sure she had her race bib and the special tag for her shoelace that would allow Carina to track her progress. Carina had wanted to be at the race the whole time, but Maya told her that was not a good idea. She knew that it was going to be boring and take about two hours to finish it. She was hoping it wouldn’t take her the full two hours, but it would depend on how she was feeling.

They decided that Carina and the girls would just stay home tomorrow to keep things simpler for Carina and let her continue resting. Part of Maya wished her wife was going to be there, but she told herself it was much better for Carina’s health. Her immune system was still compromised and she was exhausted.

As Maya packed her bag, she felt the familiar and yet also foreign feeling of the night before a big race. The shakiness in her hands, the jitteriness in her body, and the anxious feeling in her stomach were all something she was so used to when she was young but hadn’t felt since 2012 when she ran her last competitive race.

She tried not to think about her anxiety about the following morning as she made sure her favorite water bottle was out and ready to be filled in the morning along with the special one she had for when she did long runs that had a special strap on it to help her hold it. She also made sure everything Andrew would need for the twins was ready, filling their sippy cups with milk and making sure their plates were on the counter. She knew Carina would be there in the morning, but she just wanted everything to be as easy as possible.

She checked her bag again, going to grab her running jacket from the closet. It was June and it was supposed to be warm, but she had learned young that weather was unpredictable and being prepared was always a good idea. She also threw in a banana and orange, knowing those were things that would help in her recovery after the race along with a packet of an electrolyte replenisher they always had on hand for Carina because keeping her electrolytes up had been a never-ending battle that they were still fighting.

Once Maya made sure her bag was packed, she double checked that her shoes were where she thought they were along with the keys. Once everything was ready for the morning, she made sure the house was locked up for the night, turning off the lights downstairs before going upstairs, checking on the twins who were luckily still asleep before going into the master bedroom. Carina was still sleeping as well, but Maya knew she wasn’t going to get to sleep any time soon.

She picked up a book, turning on a small light that she knew wouldn’t wake her wife. She read for a long time, not tired enough to even contemplate sleep until about 1 am. She eventually laid down, moving closer to her wife, breathing in her calming scent as she drifted off to sleep.

Her body woke her up at 5 am the following day, which was so early, especially as she wasn’t going for a run. However, her body was awake and already feeling the anxiety of race day. She kept telling herself that this race wasn’t for a prize or to please Lane or for anything other than to support her wife and other families who were going through cervical cancer.

Maya got out of bed after a few minutes, going to the bathroom before getting herself dressed and going downstairs. She stretched some, just trying to warm up her muscles and get some of her nerves out. She also forced a protein bar down her throat, knowing she was going to need something to fuel her body. It didn’t feel great in her anxious stomach, but she knew she would feel worse if she didn’t get something down before her race.

Because it was still early, she decided to make up a French toast bake for breakfast for her family that she could stick in the oven just before she left to make the morning easier for everyone. While she was doing that, she made sure to be drinking water, knowing she still had a few hours before the race and she needed to be hydrated. This had been a routine of hers when she was young, always drinking a full water bottle on her way to a meet.

Once breakfast was ready, she stuck it in the fridge before going upstairs to get ready, pulling on her jacket as she did because she was slightly chilly this morning. She quietly checked on the girls who were still sleeping before going into the bathroom she shared with Carina, pulling her hair into a high ponytail.

Every race she had done before, her hair had always been in two tight braids that her mom did for her for years and then she learned how to do as she got older. There was one day she had decided to try to put her hair in a ponytail for a race when she was about fourteen.

It had been her first high school track meet and everyone else had their hair done in ponytails and she was desperate to fit in with the rest of the team because her dad had already taken over most of her coaching which isolated her from her teammates often. Maya was put on the varsity team because she was very fast and her dad insisted she could keep up with the older girls on the team, which she could.

She had done well in this first race, finishing in third which for her first high school track meet, running against some girls who were four to five years her senior and had been running track their entire time in high school.

She had felt very proud of herself. Her dad had been notably absent when she finished, and she couldn’t find him for the rest of the meet. However, her event had been the last one of the day so everyone quickly cleaned up and went to leave.

“Bishop,” the head coach said, coming up to her, “Nice race today. If that’s what you did at your first meet, I cannot wait to see what you are like in a year or two. Your dad asked me to have you meet him in his car. He said he would drive you home. See you on Monday at practice.”

Maya had nodded, knowing she had taken the bus in with the rest of the team while her dad drove separately but she was fine with having him drive her home. She grabbed her bag, heading over to the parking lot, spotting her dad’s car easily.

As she walked over, she saw her dad get out of the car, walking over to her. She realized that he was upset as she got closer, wondering if something had happened at home.

“Is everything ok?” Maya asked.

“What the hell was that?” Lane asked, taking Maya a back a little.

Up to this point, her dad had been strict about her running, but he hadn’t ever been intense or scary so she was confused. He was scary about other things, but her running had always been one of those things.

“What?” Maya said, confused.

“Third Maya?” he said, “You came in third? Two people beat you. What the hell was that?”

“I…I was the youngest one in the race,” Maya said, knowing from his tone that he was angry and when her dad got angry, there was often a lot of yelling and occasionally throwing.

It all made her so anxious and scared.

“I told your coach you could handle being on varsity,” Lane yelled, “And that is how you ran? You made me look like a fool today Maya. You should be finishing first.”

Maya had no idea what to say. She knew that arguing back would just cause her problems.

“We are going to be training harder,” he said, voice low and intense.

“Ok,” Maya nodded, not looking at her dad as she started walking toward the car when she felt a hand on her ponytail, yanking her back.

“No,” Lane said as Maya turned to look at him, trying not to cry from the pain in her head, “Training starts now. You can walk home.”

“But home is like ten miles away,” Maya said, eyes wide.

“Then you better start walking,” Lane said, going over to his car, getting in and driving away.

Maya had been shocked that day as she walked home, not getting there until long after dark.

That day had been a change in her relationship both with her dad and her sport. It had also been the first day she had ever had a true panic attack alone in the parking lot of the school where the meet had been held. It was a day she would never forget. It was also the day she swore she would never wear another ponytail.

She either wore her hair down or in braids so it was harder for her dad to pull it. It took until she moved out of her parents’ house and had been out for a good year before she started wearing her hair that way again.

Her first year at 19, her hair was only ever in a long braid until she decided to get it cut and styled a little and decided she was done with letting her dad control her hairstyle.

She was suddenly startled out of her thoughts when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

“Are you ok Bambina?” Carina asked as Maya jumped a little.

“Yeah,” Maya nodded, shaking her head a little, “I’m good. Just thinking. What are you doing up?”

“I wanted to wish you good luck before you leave for your race,” Carina said, “What were you thinking about?”

Maya just stood there for a minute, not looking at her wife before sighing.

“Lane,” Maya said in a quiet voice, feeling Carina tense up a little.

“Are you ok?” Carina asked, pulling Maya close.

“Yeah,” Maya nodded, just enjoying the hug, “I’m ok.”

“You don’t have to do this race,” Carina said, pressing a kiss into the top of Maya’s head, “I know you want to, but I don’t want it triggering you.”

“No,” Maya said, pulling away, “No, I am ok. I promise.”

Just then, Maya’s phone dinged, alerting her that Andrew was at the door.

“Your brother is here,” Maya said, giving Carina another small kiss, “And you should be back in bed.”

“I’m ok,” Carina said, “I need to use the bathroom though.”

“Ok,” Maya said, “I’ll got let Andrew in.”

Twenty minutes later, after several kisses from her wife and a quick hug from Rowan who woke up just as she was about to leave, Maya was on her way to her race. \

She got there, getting checked in which required her to go onto her fundraising page which she had all but forgotten about after she sent it to the chief and Vic. She had put about $500 in when she had registered, but that had been all the money that was in last time she checked so when she logged in and saw there was over $15,000 she just froze, double checking that she was on her race page. She looked through the donation history, tears forming in her eyes when she saw that so many firefighters form her battalion had donated, shocked when she saw the sizable donation the chief had made. She also noticed some of Carina’s friends from the hospital had given as well.

She walked away from check in with tears literally streaming down her cheeks, quickly making her way to a bathroom to calm herself down and clean herself up. Once she was feeling better, she pinned on her race bib after taking off her jacket, tying the tracker onto her shoe.

She made sure she had her headphones, cellphone, and water before taking her bag to a bag check area that would hold it for her during the race. She was ready to start this race. She headed to the starting line, getting herself in the right place for the time she was planning on running.

As she got herself stretched and ready, she suddenly heard someone calling her name, looking over and seeing Jack, Inara, Marcus, Dean, and Pru all standing on the side. She walked over to them.

“What are you guys doing here?” she asked.

“Go Auntie Maya,” Pru shouted, holding up a sign she had clearly made.

“We are your cheerleaders for the beginning of the race,” Jack said, smiling at her, “How are you feeling?”

“I…thank you guys for coming,” Maya said, still feeling overwhelmed.

“Of course,” Dean said, “We wanted to be here.”

“Yeah,” Pru nodded, “Auntie Maya, are you gonna run so fast?”

“That’s the plan,” Maya nodded, laughing at the little girl.

She stood there talking to them for another few minutes before everyone started getting called to get in place. Maya gave everyone a quick hug before going back over to her place, making sure she had her favorite playlist pulled up, the same one Carina listened to during her radiation treatments.

Soon enough, the race started, Maya in one of the fastest groups so she left pretty quickly, heading Jack, Dean, and Inara cheering, Pru and Marcus holding up their signs. She smiled as she got herself up to pace, quickly settling into a pattern with the other runners.

When she approached the one-mile mark, she was shocked to see another sign with her name on it and a few firefighters form station 42 standing there, cheering for her. She smiled, waving at them as she ran past.

With each passing mile, she would run into another person from one of her stations, each familiar face encouraging her to run faster. As she ran, she found herself just thinking about her wife and kids, focusing on them her head to keep herself going. She found herself running at an even faster pace than she anticipated, pulling ahead of most of the runners in the race.

As she turned the last corner, she was only behind two people. As she approached the finish line, she looked, seeing a sight that literally made her start crying and running even faster. There, at the finish line was her wife, daughters, and all their friends, standing there cheering, holding signs up for her. She pushed as hard as she could, crossing the finish line and not stopping until she ran straight into Carina’s arms, almost knocking her wife over as she hugged her.

“I am so proud of you Bambina,” Carina said, hugging her close, “You did such a good job.”

“I love you,” Maya said, out of breath as she held her wife close.

One of the race volunteers came over to them with a cup of water, a mylar blanket, and a medal.

“This is just a participation medal,” the volunteer said, “We have to check all of our data, but you will probably be getting another medal today.”

Maya nodded, downing the water as she hung the medal on Carina’s neck.

“That was incredible,” Vic said, “I didn’t think I would ever get the opportunity to see the Maya Bishop win a race that wasn’t the Olympics on TV when I was in high school.”

“What?” Maya said, confused, “Weren’t there two people ahead of me?”

“There were,” Travis said, “But you left them in the dust once you came around the corner.”

Maya hadn’t even realize she had done that, being so incredibly focused on getting to her wife and kids who she didn’t even expect to see until she got home.

“What are you guys doing here?” Maya asked, looking at Carina, “I thought we agreed you would stay home.”

“You didn’t think I would miss this did you Bambina?” Carina said, brushing a piece of sweaty hair off her forehead, “I am so incredibly proud of you.”

“I am proud of you,” Maya said as she looked at her wife, “Proud of you for beating cancer for all of us.”

Carina smiled, pulling Maya in for another hug, not caring that her wife was incredibly sweaty.

“What is this shirt?” Carina asked, realizing she had never seen it before.

“Oh,” Maya said, “I had this made for today.”

She pulled down the mylar blanket, revealing the entire t-shirt.

“I…Maya,” Carina said, feeling tears filling her eyes, “Thank you Bambina.”

“I did this race for you,” she said, “And I wanted everyone to know it.”

Carina gave Maya a kiss, pulling away when they heard Rowan and Nora squealing, looking over and seeing them running around with Harper, Luca and Ronnie as Vic and Travis played with the four kids, Andy and Sullivan chatting with Andrew, Amelia, and Teddy.

“Thank you for coming,” Maya said, smiling at her wife.

“How are you feeling?” Carina asked, knowing her wife had been thinking about her old race days earlier and wanted to make sure this didn’t trigger her.

“So good,” Maya said, nodding, “I’m not going to lie, I was a little worried about how I would feel, but as I was running, I realized that I was doing this race not for myself and not for my dad or to win or out of fear or obligation, but I was doing it for you and our girls and because I love you and I want other people to get the chance to be as lucky as I am.”

“Oh Bambina,” Carina said, tears in both of their eyes, “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Maya said, giving Carina one more kiss before they both wiped their cheeks and headed over to join their friends.

They stuck around at the race for a little while longer, Maya adding another gold medal to her collection. However, this one felt different, and somehow more special, than any of the other ones. Even her Olympic medal didn’t feel as special.

The group all decided to go out for lunch together at a local burger place, Maya letting each of the twins have one of the medals which they though was the coolest thing ever, showing all their aunts and uncles and cousins.

As they ate, Maya could tell Carina was getting worn out, the Italian not really eating much which was pretty normal still and resting her head on Maya’s shoulder within five minutes of them sitting down.

“We can go home,” Maya said, wrapping an arm around her wife, pulling her close.

“I’m ok,” Carina mumbled, “You should enjoy this time.”

“Babe, I want you to enjoy it too,” Maya said, taking a bite of a fry, something she was never allowed to have after a race before, “We can go.”

“The Bambine are having fun,” Carina pointed out, “Let’s just stay for a little longer. I’m ok. I just don’t want to eat. My stomach is unsettled again.”

“Ok,” Maya sighed, rubbing her hand up and down Carina’s arm, “Tell me if you start feeling worse, ok?”

Carina nodded, just leaning on her wife as her eyes slipped shut.

“Is she ok?” Amelia asked, sitting down next to Maya and Carina.

“This is the most she has done in a long time,” Maya said, knowing her wife was asleep from the sound of her breathing, “She’s just worn out.”

“Do you need anything?” Amelia asked as she took a sip of her water.

“No,” Maya said, “I think we are ok. I’m going to eat and then take her home so she can get some real sleep. She was up when I left this morning, and I don’t know if she ever went back to sleep. I haven’t asked Andrew.”

“Asked Andrew what?” the younger Italian said, coming over to sit down.

“Did Carina go back to sleep after I left this morning?” Maya asked.

“For like another hour,” Andrew nodded, “But she wanted to make sure we made it before you finished your race.”

Maya nodded, knowing how her wife was. Maya finished eating pretty quickly, grateful that Vic and Travis had volunteered to help the girls with their lunch, giving Maya the chance to relax and make sure her wife was ok.

Once she finished eating, she carefully woke Carina up, Vic and Travis loading the twins up into the car for Maya, Andrew following them in Maya’s car because he had ridden with Carina and left his motorcycle at the Bishop-Deluca house.

Not long after they got home, Maya got the girls down for a nap before going to check on Carina who was also sound asleep.

She took a quick shower before climbing into bed with her wife, exhausted herself from the minimal amounts of sleep she had gotten and also the race she had run. She smiled as Carina cuddled into her arms, kissing her forehead before allowing her own eyes to close, smiling as she fell asleep.

Over the next few weeks, Carina slowly started feeling better. She was still exhausted often and was napping at least four hours a day plus getting at least ten hours of sleep at night, but when she was awake, she had more energy and felt less sick.

She had started to ease off of her antinausea meds about ten days after she finished her treatment and was pleasantly surprised when her stomach continued to feel ok and her appetite actually started coming back. She also started to slowly wean off her anti-diarrheal medications which she had been taking pretty much every day for six weeks. That also went fairly well and although some foods she used to be fine with still made her feel sick, by the time she was three weeks post-treatment, she wasn’t taking any medications on a daily basis.

She had decided to go back to work July 7th, about a month after she finished her treatments. She was hoping to go back earlier, but her exhaustion had been a lot, and she decided to just give herself more time.

During the week leading up to her going back to work, however, she was trying to build up her stamina and decided she was going to work on something she had told herself she would do once she was feeling better. She asked Maya to pick up enough ingredients for her to make about ten lasagnas, including disposable pans.

Maya was incredibly confused until Carina explained what she wanted to do. Maya had Wednesday off work so they decided to keep the girls home from daycare and spend the entire day as a family making lasagna. Carina loved cooking, and just hadn’t had the energy for it.

She was glad Maya was home to help just in case she got too tired, but it ended up being a very fun family day, though Rowan and Nora only helped sporadically, preferring to play with their toys or color cards that Maya and Carina had on the table.

Their kitchen looked a bit like a lasagna factory all morning, Maya taking over the stirring of the meat sauce while Carina took a little break on the couch, just letting her body rest.

They managed to get the lasagnas done by the time the twins needed to go down for a nap, Carina also deciding to take a nap because she was tired from all the work that morning.

While her family slept, Maya cleaned the kitchen, making sure all the lasagna pans were closed up properly with a small sticky note on top that had instructions for cooking it. She also spent some time finishing up the cards Carina had been working on the past several days.

She took the pans of lasagna and somehow managed to get them all into the fridge in their garage before going back into the house. They had talked about delivering all these lasagnas after the twins’ nap, but Maya wasn’t totally sure how Carina would be feeling.

She spent time working on a few different things, answering some emails and just making sure she was caught up on everything because even though she wasn’t working, she had a little time and didn’t want to be overwhelmed tomorrow.

The twins woke up after a good two-hour nap, Carina waking up not long after.

“Go you still want to go take the lasagnas to everyone tonight?” Maya asked as Carina sat down on the couch next to her.

“Si,” Carina nodded, leaning her head on Maya’s shoulder, “Just let me wake up a little more.”

“Ok,” Maya said, wrapping her arms around her wife, “We can go whenever you want.”

Not long after, they were all feeling ready, loading the twins into the car along with all the lasagna before starting off to Vic’s house, Carina texting her while they were on their way and asking if she was home. It turned out that Travis and Vic were both at Vic’s place which helped Maya and Carina a lot.

When they got there, they unloaded the twins, handing Travis’s card to Nora and Vic’s to Rowan, Maya and Carina each grabbing a pan of lasagna before they headed up to Vic’s house. Nora and Rowan both banged on the door, Vic laughing when she opened the door.

“Hello,” Vic said, smiling at her friends, “What are you guys doing here?”

“Basagna,” Rowan said as she handed Vic the card in her hand, “For ou.”

“What?” Vic said, clearly confused as Travis also walked over to the door.

“Unca T,” Nora yelled, throwing herself at him.

“Hey,” he said, picking her up as she handed him the card.

“We wanted to say thank you for everything you did for us while I was having treatment,” Carina said, smiling at Vic and Travis, “So, we made you each a pan of lasagna.”

“And this isn’t nearly enough to say thank you for all your help,” Maya said as Carina handed her tray to Vic, “But it’s a start.”

“You guys did not have to do this,” Travis said, shaking his head, “We were more than happy to help out.”

“So, you don’t want the lasagna?” Maya said, turning to leave.

“That’s not what I said,” Travis said as Vic also took his pan since he was busy holding Nora, “Thank you guys so much.”

“Of course,” Carina said as Travis gave her a hug.

“Yeah, I don’t think we would have survived the past few months without you guys. Thank you so much for everything.”

“Do you guys want to come in?” Vic asked, “We were just hanging out.”

“We have seven more trays of lasagna in the car to deliver,” Maya said, “But thank you.”

“Wow, you made nine lasagnas?” Travis said, “You must be feeling better Carina.”

“I am,” Carina nodded, “Slowly, but I am. But Maya also helped a lot. I never could have done it on my own. I am still pretty tired most of the time.”

“Me too,” Nora said, looking at Travis.

“And me,” Rowan said.

“Si, the bambine helped too,” Carina laughed, “It was a family affair.”

“Well, thank you Bishop-Delucas for this yummy food,” Vic said, “Let me go put this down and then I can give you all proper hugs.”

They spent a few more minutes chatting before Travis and Vic helped load the girls into the car.

The family went to all of their friends’ houses including Andrew, Ben and Bailey, Teddy, Amelia, Mason and Laila, and Andy before stopping at the hospital where Carina knew Cindy was on shift, Maya running in alone for this one because Carina was starting to get tired again, finding the OB nurse charting at the nurse’s station.

“Cindy,” Maya said, getting her attention.

“Maya,” the older woman said, “What are you doing here? Is Carina ok?”

“She is,” Maya nodded, “She’s in the car with the girls, but I just wanted to come drop this off for you. It is Carina’s homemade lasagna as a thank you for everything you did for our family over the past few months. I…having someone who knows what it is like to talk to meant the world to me and I don’t know how I will ever repay you enough.”

“You did not have to make me lasagna,” Cindy said, taking the pan from Maya, gesturing for her to follow her, “Thank you. And while I hope it never happens, one day, I know you will meet someone in our situation, and all I ask is that if you are able, be the person you needed in this time for them. The woman who helped me through my husband’s cancer told me that and I think it is some of the best advice I have ever gotten. Just be the person you needed for someone else. That is more than enough repayment.” Maya nodded as Cindy gave her a hug. “Thank you for the lasagna,” Cindy smiled as she pulled away.

“Thank you for everything,” Maya said, biting her lip to keep from crying.

Just then, Cindy’s phone started ringing.

“I’ve got to take this,” Cindy said, “I’m sure I will see you around Maya.”

“Carina is back to work next week so that is a safe bet,” Maya nodded, waving as she left and Cindy got back to work.

Maya headed back down to the car, finding the twins still listening to the Italian children’s songs she had put on, Carina struggling to keep her eyes open.

“You can sleep babe,” Maya said as she got back into the car, “Just close your eyes.”

Carina nodded, shifting a little to get herself comfortable. Maya smiled as she reached over, rubbing Carina’s knee as she drove home. Today felt like a genuinely good day for them, and it made Maya so happy to see Carina slowly getting back to the things she enjoyed.

Carina went back to work and while it was hard, she enjoyed starting to get back into her normal routine. She only worked two half days the first week, adding one half day every week until she was working five half days. It wasn’t an ideal schedule because it kept her form working on the OB floor and delivering babies which was something she loved. She ended up getting herself on a schedule the week before they left for their trip where she was working two half days and one 12-hour shift per week.

It wasn’t her normal schedule, but it allowed her to be back to delivering babies sometimes and still gave her enough time to rest.

She was planning on getting further into working her normal schedule before they went on their trip, but a brutal cold she picked up her third week back at work set everything back almost two weeks form her plan. Her immune system still wasn’t where it had been before which left her susceptible to everything. Maya hated seeing her wife sick again, and it had been a little rough when Carina had spiked a small fever that had almost sent Maya into a full-blown panic attack. After some deep breathing and multiple reassurances from her wife, the blonde managed to calm down. It was a long two weeks as Carina struggled to get over the cold, but it did happen and things got back to normal.

Once Carina was better, they also decided to bite the bullet and finally potty train Rowan. It had taken three days for the little girl to fully grasp using the toilet, but once she did, she never looked back. Because Nora had been so easy, it felt like the three days took forever to get Rowan comfortable with always using the toilet, but they both kept having to remind themselves that it was completely normal. The feeling of being able to pack up all their left-over diapers and take them to Andy’s house for Ronnie to wear was an amazing feeling though.

Finally, after what felt like a very long summer, it was time for them to go on their San Francisco vacation which Maya and Carina were looking forward to.

Maya had lists of everything they needed to bring, starting their packing almost a full week in advance. She knew Carina was working a 12-hour shift for the first time in months that week and didn’t want to add to her stress at all so the blonde insisted that she would pack everything except Carina’s clothes which the Italian wanted to pack herself.

Their flight was timed so the twins would hopefully nap on the plane. This also meant they had time to get to the airport and didn’t have to go at the crack of dawn. They made it to the airport with plenty of time, making sure they had lunch packed for the girls and themselves so they could eat at the airport.

The flight went pretty smoothly, Nora crying a little when the plane took off because her ears hurt, but once Carina convinced her to drink some of her water, she calmed down and pretty quickly fell asleep. Rowan was a little tougher to get to sleep, but after Maya recited The Gruffalo to her three times, the toddler finally went to sleep.

They landed in San Francisco and headed to their rental, having decided on a house near the beach with a swimming pool and hot tub. They had no plans for the first day because they needed time to just relax after traveling, Carina falling asleep in the car on the way to the house.

“Mamma sweepin?” Rowan asked as Maya got the twins out of the car once they got to the house.

“She is,” Maya nodded, “Mamma is very tired because unlike you two silly girls, Mamma didn’t get a nap on the airplane.”

“Pway sand?” Nora asked, seeing the beach.

“We can later,” Maya said, “But right now, do you want to go see the house we are going to stay in this week?”

“Si,” the twins yelled, jumping up and down.

Maya glanced at Carina, deciding to let her sleep another few minutes while she took the twins into the house. Maya opened the front door using the code she had been sent, smiling when she saw the beautiful beach house.

“Wow,” Rowan said, running directly to the back door, “Mommy, yook, swimming.”

“That’s right,” Maya nodded, “There is a swimming pool back there. Mamma and I will take you swimming later, ok?”

“Now,” Rowan said, looking at Maya.

“No, right now, we are going to go look around the rest of the house.

The girls ran ahead of Maya and into the master bedroom. By the time Maya got there, they were jumping on the bed.

“Hey, sit down please,” Maya said, seeing how close they were to the edge, “I don’t want you to fall off and hurt your head or your arm ok?”

“Or yegs?” Nora said as she sat down.

“Or your legs,” Maya laughed, “Do you like this bed?”

“Mamma and Mommy bed?” Rowan asked.

“Yes, this is where Mamma and I will sleep,” Maya nodded, “Do you want to see your room?”

Si,” Nora nodded as both girls got off the bed.

“This way,” Maya said, having seen the layout of the house online many times.

They walked into another room that had two sets of bunk beds, one with a full-sized bed on the bottom and another with a twin sized bed.

“You guys get to sleep here,” Maya said, “And you can sleep together in the big bed if you want or one of you can sleep in the big bed and one can sleep in this bed. You don’t have to decide now though.”

The twins nodded, looking at the beds.

“Fish,” Rowan said, pointing to a picture on the wall.

“Yeah, that is a fish,” Maya nodded, “Do you like it?”

Rowan nodded, just staring at the fish on the wall.

Just then, they heard a noise from the living room.

“Stay here for a minute,” Maya said to the twins, not sure who it was.

However, before she could go investigate, Carina rounded the corner, looking very sleepy.

“Mamma,” Nora said, running over to her.

“Mamma, yook,” Rowan said, “Fish.”

“I see,” Carina said, walking over to Maya as the twins continued running around the room.

“You ok?” Maya asked as she wrapped her arms around her wife.

“Si,” Carina nodded, “Just sleepy. Today was a long day.”

“You can go to bed right now if you want,” Maya said, knowing it was only 5 pm but if Carina needed sleep, sleep she would get.

“No,” Carina said, shaking her head, “I am ok. I just need to wake up more. What are we going to do for dinner?”

“I think there is a deli not too far away,” Maya said, “I could run and grab something from there and then I was going to order groceries once we get these monkeys in bed tonight.”

“Ok,” Carina nodded, “Sounds good.”

Maya pulled up the menu for the deli before giving it to Carina. While Carina figured out what she wanted and helped the girls choose what they wanted, Maya brought in the luggage. The twins were crazy, running all around the house while Carina tried to unpack some of their things.

“Mamma, tan we do to sand?” Nora asked, wandering into the room where Carina was unpacking her and Maya’s clothes.

“Mommy went to get dinner,” Carina said, “But maybe after we eat, we can go walk on the beach a little bit ok?”

Nora nodded, skipping back out of the room. Maya got back with dinner, the girls calming down for the first time since they arrived as they dug into their sandwiches.

“This house is beautiful,” Carina said as they all sat at the table, “You picked a good place for us to stay.”

“You helped,” Maya shrugged as she took a bite of her salad.

“What day is your mom coming?” Carina asked as she handed Rowan a napkin.

“Tomorrow morning,” Maya said, “And then she will be here until Monday.”

“That’s right,” Carina nodded.

They had purposely rented a house that had an extra room so Katherine could come stay with them for a few days to give her a chance to get to see the girls and spend some time with them. Maya secretly hoped that Katherine would maybe also take the twins for an evening so she could take Carina out on a date because it had been a long time since they had gotten to go out together that didn’t involve a doctor’s appointment or radiation treatment.

Once dinner was done, Rowan and Nora were begging to go to the sand so they decided it might be good to let them run in the open air and get some of this energy out.

“Should we change their clothes?” Maya asked, looking at the leggings the girls had been wearing on the plane, Rowan’s paired with a t-shirt and Nora’s with a dress.

“They will be fine,” Carina shrugged, “If they get wet, they have to have a bath anyway.”

“True,” Maya nodded, “Well, I am going to put on some shorts because I don’t enjoy the feeling of wet jeans.”

Carina laughed, already rolling up her leggings. Normally, Carina was one to wear jeans to travel, but while the radiation burn on her stomach had pretty much healed, the area was still sensitive and jeans were not pleasant to wear yet. Once Maya had changed and both girls had stopped for a bathroom break, they walked out the back door of the house and down to the beach.

“You cannot go in the water without either me or Mamma, do you understand?” Maya said as they walked on the sand, “It’s not safe.”

“Ok Mommy,” both Nora and Rowan said, nodding their little heads.

That first evening on the beach was magical. Nora and Rowan were so excited, running down to where the waves would just barely touch their toes, getting them wet and then screaming and running back to Carina who had sat down on the sand while Maya stayed near the girls making sure they were safe. However, after a little while and seeing just how well the girls were listening, Maya went to sit with her wife.

“What are you thinking about?” Maya asked as she sat down, eyes never leaving the twins who were only about ten feet away from them.

“I’m glad we took this trip,” Carina said, leaning her head on Maya’s shoulder, “I am glad we get to be here as a family and relax together. This is exactly what I needed, especially with my three-month scans coming up in just a few weeks.”

“I know,” Maya said, having been trying to push the thoughts of those scans out of her head.

Both of them knew it was highly unlikely that Carina’s cancer would ever return, but it was also highly unlikely she would get cervical cancer in the first place so it all made them nervous.

“I think we should plan something for the day of your scans,” Maya said, “Something fun that we can look forward to so we aren’t dreading that day as much.”

“Did you have any ideas?” Carina asked, knowing the answer was yes before she asked the question.

“Well,” Maya started, biting her lip as she started out at the girls who had moved on to looking for shells, “I was thinking, and you can shoot this down if you think it’s a stupid idea or if you aren’t ready or anything, but I was thinking we could…”

“Call there fertility clinic that day?” Carina asked, earning her a look from her wife that told her that was exactly what Maya was going to say, “I was thinking the same thing. Well, not that we would do it that day, but that as long as my scans came back clear, we should try to figure out when we wanted to have that appointment. I just wasn’t sure if you would be ready.”

“I’m ready,” Maya nodded, “I mean, I’m nervous about it, but I am ready to add another little bambino or bambina to our chaos. The twins are getting more and more independent every day and I think they would both be such good big sisters. My job is stable and Chief Rodriguez is the best chief we have had in a long time. I feel ready as long as you are.”

“I am feeling better every day,” Carina nodded, “And it’s not like we will have a newborn as soon as we make the appointment and I know in a year or so, which is logically about the time we would have a baby, I should hopefully be back to 100% or close to it. I’m ready.”

“Did we just agree to start trying for another baby soon?” Maya asked, looking at her wife.

“I think we did,” Carina nodded, leaning in and kissing Maya.

Their kiss was interrupted by cries coming from Nora. Apparently, the wave had been a little bigger than the girls thought and it pulled the sand out from under Nora’s feet, causing her to fall on her butt. She wasn’t hurt, but she did get a little wet and was clearly scared.

Maya and Carina took that as a sign to call it a night, taking the girls back to the house for a quick bath and then bedtime.

“Do you want me to start the hot tub for tonight?” Maya asked as they left the twins’ room.

“Not tonight Bambina,” Carina said, shaking her head, “I’m sorry. I am so tired. But you can go in.”

“Don’t apologize,” Maya said, shaking her head, “I am good. I just know you were very excited about the hot tub. You can go to bed. I am going to put in an order for groceries and hopefully get them delivered before I go to bed.”

“I can help you make the order,” Carina yawned, “Make sure you don’t only get protein powder and kale.”

“Haha,” Maya said, shaking her head, “Let’s do it in bed.”

Carina got ready for bed as Maya got the grocery site pulled up. They managed to get everything ordered before Carina passed out, Maya deciding to just read her book she had brought until the food was delivered in two hours.

Once the groceries were delivered and put away, Maya went to bed herself, excited about what the next week would bring.

The following day, Maya was the first one up, as always, Rowan coming into the room around 7.

“Good morning Patatina,” Maya said, picking the toddler up, “Did you sleep well?”

“Si,” Rowan nodded, stretching a little.

“Do you know who’s coming to visit today?” Maya asked as she walked out of the bedroom with Rowan, closing the door to allow Carina to get as much sleep as possible.

“’io dre?” Rowan asked.

“No, not Zio Andrea,” Maya said, “Grandma is coming today.”

“Gamma?” Rowan asked.

“Yeah,” Maya nodded, pulling out her phone, showing Rowan a picture of her mom, “Remember, Grandma.”

“Gamma,” Rowan smiled, clearly remembering Katherine, “Gamma pway in a sand?”

“I’m sure she will,” Maya nodded, walking into the kitchen, “She will be here in a few hours. Should we make breakfast?”

“Si,” Rowan nodded. Maya and Rowan worked together making an egg bake, putting it in the oven before taking Rowan into the living room to play with a few toys they had brought.

“Mommy, swimmin?” Rowan asked, looking out at the pool.

“We can go in the pool after Mamma and Nora wake up and we eat breakfast,” Maya assured her.

Rowan sighed but went back to playing with her toy cars and animals she brought. It didn’t take too long for Nora to wake up, joining Maya and Nora in the living room.

Once breakfast was ready and Maya got the twins their portions, she went to check on her wife, finding her just waking up.

“Good morning,” Maya said, sitting down next to her on the bed.

“Buongiorno,” Carina mumbled, rubbing her tired eyes.

“Did you sleep ok?” Maya asked, running her fingers through Carina’s hair.

“Si,” Carina nodded, stretching, “What time is it?”

“A little after 8,” Maya said. Carina nodded, sitting up.

“You don’t have to get up,” Maya said, “I can bring you breakfast in bed if you want.”

“No,” Carina said, swinging her legs over the side of the bed, “I can get up. Your mamma is going to be here at 9:30?”

“Yeah,” Maya nodded, “She texted me a few minutes ago and said she was on her way. I think she is excited to see the girls. I mean, maybe us too, but the girls for sure.”

Carina nodded, wrapping her wife in a hug. She knew that sometimes, it was hard for Maya to watch Katherine interact with the twins because it showed Maya just how good of a mom Katherine could have been if not for Lane.

There were still a lot of complicated feelings surrounding her childhood that Maya tried to work through with Diane but also was able to recognize that it was ok that things were hard or made her sad.

“Thank you,” Maya said, pulling away from her wife, never any less amazed at just how well Carina knew her.

They went and had breakfast, Maya making some coffee in the pot that was available. It was still hit or miss if Carina’s stomach would handle her favorite drink even when it was made perfectly so she decided to skip it for today.

They all ate breakfast together, Carina volunteering to clean the kitchen while Maya got the twins ready for the day.

They decided to spend some time in the pool this morning at least until Katherine got there, the girls absolutely thrilled. Maya pulled on a one-piece suit while Carina got sunscreen on the twins.

“Are you going to come in the pool?” Maya asked as she came out of the room, finding Carina sitting on the couch.

“I don’t know,” Carina sighed, “The skin on my stomach still doesn’t look quite normal and my one-piece suits irritate my skin and I just…I…”

“Hey,” Maya said, crouching down in from of her, “It is completely ok if you do not feel ready to come in the pool. But I want you to know that you are beautiful and nothing changed that. Not post-radiation skin, not scars, not your two little tattoos, nothing. I think you have the most incredible body in the entire world. But I also know none of this has been easy for you and I completely understand if you aren’t comfortable yet. It is up to you.”

“Grazie Bambina,” Carina nodded, wiping a tear from her cheek, “I will think about it.”

“Ok,” Maya nodded, smiling before pressing a kiss to Carina’s lips, “Well, I don’t think these two are going to wait much longer so I am going to go get them in the pool. I love you.”

“I love you too,” Carina said, getting up to help Maya put on her sunscreen.

Once that was done and the girls were in their life jackets, Maya took them to the pool, Rowan excited to get in while Nora just stuck one toe in, pulling it out quickly as she looked at Carina who had decided to come outside with everyone.

“It’s ok,” Carina nodded, “You can do it.”

“Mamma do it,” Nora said, running over to Carina.

“I don’t want to go in the pool right now Piccola,” Carina said, picking the toddler up, “Mommy is in the pool though.”

“Come on Nora,” Maya said from where she was in the water with Rowan, the blonde toddler kicking and splashing happily.

“No,” Nora said, clinging to Carina, "Mamma.”

Carina sighed, trying to decide what to do. She didn’t really feel ready to show off her stomach again, but she also didn’t want Nora to miss out on the fun of the pool. Her thoughts were interrupted by the doorbell ringing.

“That’s probably my mom,” Maya said, hearing it too as she grabbed Rowan and started swimming toward the stairs.

“We can go let her in,” Carina said, standing up with Nora in her arms, “You guys stay in the pool.”

“Swimmin Mommy,” Rowan said, laughing as she splashed at Maya.

“Are you splashing at me?” Maya said jokingly, “You know what that means? I have to tickly you!”

Carina smiled as she listened to her wife as she and Nora went into the house, going to the front door. They opened it, finding Katherine standing outside, a box from a bakery in her hands and a big smile on her face.

“Katherine,” Carina smiled, giving her a side hug because Nora was still in her other arm, “Hello. It's so good to see you. Rowan and Maya are in the pool.”

“Hi Carina,” Katherine said, “And hello Nora. How are you?”

Nora buried her head in Carina’s shoulder, not looking at Katherine.

“It’s Grandma Nora,” Carina said, “You remember when we went to see her with Zio Mason and Zia Laila and Josie.”

“Mamma,” Nora said, not picking up her head.

“She’s being a little clingy today,” Carina said, moving so Katherine could come in, “I’m sure she will say hi soon.”

“It’s ok,” Katherine said, setting the box down on the counter, “You all have had a lot going on. How are you feeling Carina? You look great.”

“I am feeling better every day,” Carina said, “Still not 100%, but I feel much better than I did in June.”

“Good,” Katherine said, smiling, “I’m glad.”

“Do you want to go see Maya and Rowan?” Carina asked, “Maya was going to get out of the pool, but I told her not to because she and Rowan were having so much fun.”

Katherine nodded, walking out to the pool with Carina.

“Hi Mom,” Maya said, waving as she saw Katherine come out.

“Hi Maya,” Katherine said, walking over to the pool as Maya again went to get out, “No, don’t get out. I am fine. Hi Rowan.”

“Hi,” Rowan said in a small voice as she clung to Maya.

“That’s Grandma, remember?” Maya said, “We talked about her coming this morning.”

Rowan nodded, still not letting go of Maya.

“She will warm up,” Maya assured her mom.

Katherine nodded, smiling at her daughter and granddaughter.

“I am going to go get my things from the car,” Katherine said.

“Oh, do you need help?” Maya asked, going to climb out of the pool.

“I am perfectly capable of doing it myself,” Katherine assured her daughter, “Is it ok if I put on a swimsuit and join you all?”

“Of course,” Maya nodded, “You don’t need to ask.”

“Ok,” the older woman said, “I will be right back.”

“Nora, are you ready to get in the pool?”

“Mamma,” Nora said, still clinging to Carina.

“If I get in the pool, will you?” Carina asked.

“Si,” Nora nodded, looking at Carina.

“Ok,” the Italian said, “Bambina, I am going to go put on my suit.”

“Really?” Maya said, smiling.

“Si,” Carina nodded, “Nora won’t go in if I don’t and I don’t want her to miss out on swimming.”

“Nora, you don’t want to swim with me?” Maya said, looking at her older daughter.

“Mamma,” Nora said again. “It’s fine,” Carina said, “I will go change.”

Carina brought Nora with her, finding Katherine coming in with her suitcase.

“Are you sure you don’t need any help?” Carina asked, looking at her mother-in-law.

“No,” Katherine said, “I am fine. Thank you though.”

Carina went and changed into her swimsuit, looking at her stomach for a second before Nora ran over to her.

“Mamma, swimmin pwease,” the toddler said.

“Ok,” Carina laughed, “Let’s go.”

Carina walked outside with Nora in her arms, going over to the pool where Maya was playing with Rowan, stopping what she was doing when she noticed her wife, jaw dropping a little.

“What?” Carina said, looking at Maya.

“I just…you look hot,” Maya said, unable to say anything else.

“Mamma hot?” Rowan said, clearly confused.

“Mamma looks gorgeous,” Maya said to her daughter, “Extremely gorgeous.”

Rowan giggled as she looked between Maya and Carina.

“Basta,” Carina said, wrapping her arms around her stomach as she sat down on the edge of the pool with her feet in the water.

“I love you,” Maya mouthed to her wife as she went back to playing with Rowan.

The rest of the day was fairly laid back. They spent the morning in the pool and then after Carina and the twins napped, they went to the beach, the girls warming up to Katherine quickly and wanting to show her all the shells they found on the beach.

The following day was much of the same, the five of them just enjoying time together.

Sunday was not like every other day though. It was a special day, Maya’s birthday.

Carina had banished Maya to the bedroom after they put the twins down the night before, knowing there was no way she would be up before her wife the following day.

When Maya woke up on Sunday morning, it didn’t feel any different than any other day. She was the first one up, as always. However, instead of getting up, she just started at Carina, watching her chest rise and fall, thinking that getting to wake up next to her wife was the only birthday present she could ever need.

She must have drifted off to sleep because the next thing she knew, she woke up to the smell of coffee, very confused.

As she looked at Carina, she noticed the Italian was awake.

“What time is it?” Maya asked, realizing the twins hadn’t woken them up yet, “Where are the girls?”

“Buon Compleanno,” Carina said, smiling at Maya, “Happy birthday Bambina.”

“Thank you,” Maya said, smiling at Carina leaned over and gave her a kiss, smiling as she felt Carina deepened it.

Just then, they both heard knocking on the door, Nora and Rowan busting in a minute later followed by Katherine telling them to come back.

“I’m sorry,” Katherine said, “We were trying to let you both sleep.”

“It’s ok,” Maya said as Nora gave her a hug, “We were both awake.”

“Happy birthday,” Katherine said, smiling at her daughter.

“Thank you,” Maya said, smiling back.

“Buon compleanno,” Nora said, looking up at Maya.

“Buon compleanno,” Rowan said, crawling over to Maya.

“Thank you,” Maya said as the twins hugged her.

“Come on girls,” Katherine said, gesturing to the twins, “Let’s go finish what we were working on.”

The girls both climbed off the bed, following Katherine as Maya looked over at Carina.

“What are they working on?” the blonde asked as Carina traced patterns on her hand.

“Non lo so,” Carina said, pressing another kiss to Maya’s lips, “Should we go see?”

“One more minute,” Maya said, moving closer to her wife.

“We can have as many minutes as you want,” Carina said, kissing her wife, “Although, you might not want to take too many minutes because we have plans this afternoon.”

“We do?” Maya said, looking at Carina, “Doing what?”

“It’s a surprise,” Carina said cheekily.

“I hate surprises,” Maya groaned.

“Well, you don’t have to wait too long for this surprise,” Carina said, giving Maya another kiss.

“Fine,” Maya grumbled, getting out of bed.

She left the bedroom, a little bit taken aback when she walked into the living room. There were balloons all over the floor, streamers hanging from various places. On the counter, there was a platter of cornetto, her favorite breakfast treat, as well as a bowl of fruit.

“Did you…?” Maya said, looking at her wife, “Did you make cornetto?”

“I did,” Carina nodded, “I know it’s your favorite.”

“Thank you Carina,” Maya said, giving her wife a hug and kiss.

“Mommy, here,” Rowan said, running up to her and giving her a card as Nora did the same.

“Wow,” Maya said, crouching down, “Did you make these?”

“Wif Gamma,” Nora nodded.

“Good job,” Maya said, hugging the twins, “Thank you so much. I love them.”

The girls beamed at the praise before running back to the table where they were eating breakfast. The rest of the morning was nice and calm, the family spending time at the beach just enjoying time together.

The twins and Carina all napped, Maya opting to lay down with her wife on this particular day, a little tired from the morning in the sun and also just wanting to be with Carina. She never ended up falling asleep, but that was ok. She did a little reading and just let her body rest.

After everyone woke up, Maya went to play with the girls and her mom while Carina stayed in the bedroom.

About half an hour later, Maya was starting to get worried that maybe Carina was sick or something, going to check on her. When she walked into the room, she was confused. Carina was just finishing packing a bag.

“What are you doing?” Maya asked.

“Well, your mamma agreed to stay here with the bambine tonight, and we, are going to a hotel,” Carina said, pulling Maya close to her, “Well, first, we are going out to dinner and then we are going to a hotel for some alone time.”

“Are you serious?” Maya said, eyes wide.

“Si,” Carina nodded, “Now, let’s get ready to go.”

“I didn’t bring anything nice to wear,” Maya said, “I barely brought anything besides shorts.”

“Good think I brought you this,” Carina said, pulling out a black dress, “Do you think this will work?”

“Yeah,” Maya said, nodding, “Thank you.”

The two of them got ready, Maya deciding she needed a quick shower because she felt grimy from the morning at the beach. Maya had been finishing getting ready in the bathroom while Carina got dressed in the bedroom, the blonde’s jaw all but hitting the floor when she walked out of the bathroom, seeing her wife standing there in an absolutely stunning red jumpsuit with a plunging neckline that left little to the imagination.

“Wow,” Maya said, “I…wow…I don’t think I have seen that one before.”

“I bought it for this trip,” Carina shrugged, “Do you want me help putting on your dress?”

“I think I would rather both of us wear nothing,” Maya said, clamping her hand over her mouth when she realized what she had said, “No, I mean, I want you to be comfortable and dressed however you want to feel good and…”

“Bambina, calmati,” Carina said, taking Maya’s dress off the hanger, “There will be plenty of time tonight for no clothes.”

“Seriously?” Maya said, whipping around to look at her wife, “Wait, are you serious?”

“I mean, si,” Carina nodded as Maya put on her dress, “I think I am ready to try at least.”

A smiled lit up Maya’s face brighter than Carina had seen in a long time.

“Someone’s excited,” Carina laughed as she zipped up the back of Maya’s dress.

“I mean, I would be very excited for this night even if all we did was go to the hotel and watch Italian soap operas all night,” Maya said, not wanting to put too much pressure on her wife or this night, “But I would be lying if I said I wasn’t excited to spend some naked time with you.”

“I am excited too,” Carina said, “A little nervous too, but excited. Now, are you ready?”

“I think so,” Maya nodded, grabbing their overnight bag as well as her purse, “Let’s go.”

“Wow, Mommy, you yook hot,” Rowan said as Maya walked out of the bedroom, making Maya turn a deep shade of red as Carina and her mom both chuckled.

“She learned it from you, Bambina,” Carina laughed, seeing how embarrassed her wife was.

“I know,” Maya mumbled, shaking her head.

“Nora, Rowan, Mommy and I are going to go to a hotel to sleep tonight, and you get to stay here with Grandma,” Carina said, bending down, “Are you going to have fun?”

“Why?” Nora asked.

“Because it’s Mommy’s birthday and we are going for a nice dinner and to sleep at a hotel,” Carina said.

“Me too,” Rowan said.

“Girls, you get to stay here with me and we can play with toys and I have some special surprises for you,” Katherine said, coming over to them.

“You will have much more fun with Grandma than with Mamma and I,” Maya said, “We aren’t going to do anything you would find fun.”

“Ok,” Rowan sighed, not totally sure she was believing her parents but deciding to just go with it.

“We will be back tomorrow morning,” Carina said, seeing that Nora still looked a little unsure, “And we can spend the day together, ok?”

“Fine,” Nora sighed, giving Maya and Carina a hug. Rowan followed suit and I love yous were said all around before Maya and Carina headed to the door.

“Thank you so much for doing this Katherine,” Carina said, smiling at her mother-in-law.

“Yes, thank you Mom,” Maya said, “And if you need us, just call. Nora needs her blanket to sleep and make sure they go to the bathroom before they go to sleep.”

“We will be fine,” Katherine said, “Carina gave me a list of things I need to know. You two go have fun. Happy birthday Maya.”

“Thank you Mom,” Maya said as they left.

The two of them went to dinner at a very nice restaurant, enjoying time with just the two of them. Maya was given a special dessert for her birthday which they both enjoyed before heading to the hotel. Carina got them checked in before guiding her wife to the elevator.

“What did he meant when he said, ‘the special room?’” Maya asked as they got on the elevator.

“You will see,” Carina said, pressing the button for their floor.

They walked down the hall to their room, Carina swiping the key and opening the door for her wife. Maya let out a small gasp as she walked into the room. There were rose petals all over the floor, a bottle of chilled champagne sat in a bucket on the table along with a box of chocolate covered strawberries.

“Surprise,” Carina said, smiling at her wife, “Happy birthday.”

“This is…wow Carina, you did not need to do all of this,” Maya said, turning to look at her wife.

“But I wanted to,” Carina said, slipping off her shoes, “You have done so much for me and the bambine over the past few months, and I wanted to say thank you and to celebrate you tonight.”

“You are amazing, you know that right?” Maya said, dropping their overnight bag as she walked over to her wife.

“Oh yeah?” Carina said, smiling as Maya pressed a kiss into her lips, running her tongue over her lip, prompting Carina to open her mouth.

“Are you sure you are ready for this?” Maya asked, already feeling herself getting worked up.

“Si,” Carina nodded, “I promise you I am. And I will tell you if what we are doing doesn’t feel good, ok? I promise.”

Maya nodded, reaching her hands behind Carina, finding the zipper on the back of her jumpsuit, unzipping it as she continued to kiss Carina, smiling deviously as she realized her wife was wearing no underwear.

Once the Italian was left without clothes, Carina helped Maya out of her dress, walking them slowly over to the bed, careful not to trip. Carina got Maya laying down before suddenly stopping.

“What?” Maya asked, confused.

“I’ll be right back.” Carina said, walking away. She came back about two minutes later with several toys, a container of lube, and a bottle of chocolate sauce.

“Did you pack all of that stuff?” Maya asked, laughing.

“No silly,” Carina said, uncapping the chocolate sauce, “I had the hotel put the chocolate sauce in the fridge.”

Maya gasped a little as Carina poured the chilled cholate onto her body that was already much too hot, knowing they were in for a good night.

Maya’s birthday night was indeed amazing, Carina making sure to celebrate her wife in many ways before also allowing Maya to have her way with her, finding that while things were a little more sore than normal, everything seemed to be in proper working order even after radiation, much to both of their relief.

They stayed up way too late that night, both of them sleeping in until close to 10 am the following day. They got back to the house by lunch time, bringing diner food with them.

Maya noticed Carina seemed a little bit off that morning, but figured she was probably just exhausted form their long night.

Katherine left after lunch, Maya getting the twins down for a nap while Carina went to sleep herself. Maya went and read her book with her feet in the pool until the twins woke up.

She then went to check on Carina and found that her wife was both still asleep and was also too warm. She grabbed their thermometer, finding her wife’s temperature was 100.6. Maya debated what she should do but ended up deciding to just let her sleep for now.

The girls begged to go in the pool and while Maya didn’t love the idea of leaving Carina alone in the house while she was sick, she also told herself that Carina likely just had a little bug, that her immune system wasn’t great but it was strong enough to fight off a little illness.

Maya took the girls out to the pool, still feeling very anxious and struggling to engage with the girls as much as she normally did as because her mind was running through what if scenarios about her wife. However, they did managed to enjoy their time in the pool to some extent, before Maya heard the back door open and looked to see Carina coming out wrapped in a blanket despite it being over 80 outside.

“Hey,” Maya said, frowning as Carina walked over to her.

“I don’t feel well,” Carina said, sitting down in one of the lounge chairs by the pool.

“I know,” Maya said, swimming over to the side of the pool closest to her wife, “What is bothering you besides the fever?”

“My head hurts,” Carina said, “And I’m achy.”

“The achy could be from last night,” Maya teased, earning her a smile from Carina, “Does your throat hurt or your stomach or anything?”

“No,” Carina said, “I’m just tired.”

“You can go lay down,” Maya said, “I can bring you some tea or something.”

“I’m ok here for now,” Carina said, leaning back in the chair.

“Ok,” Maya sighed, hating that Carina wasn’t feeling well, “Well, if you need anything, let me know, ok?”

Carina nodded, rubbing her eyes as she tried to get comfortable as she watched her wife and daughters play, glad they were still able to have fun.

The rest of their trip was very relaxed. Carina’s fever broke after 24 hours which was good, but she was still not feeling 100% so they mostly just hung out at the house or on the beach which the twins seemed to be just fine with. Maya hated that Carina was spending the last few days of their vacation not feeling well, getting her everything and anything she needed to help her feel better.

By their last night, Carina was doing a lot better though and the four of them got to enjoy their last little bit of time on vacation together on the beach, the girls running around on the beach as Maya and Carina watched them.

“Did you enjoy this vacation?” Maya asked, looking at her wife, “I mean, besides the fact that you were sick for a few days.”

“I enjoyed all of it,” Carina said, smiling, “Even being sick is better by the beach. I feel like the salt water is so healing. Did you enjoy this vacation?”

“I did,” Maya nodded, smiling at her wife, “It was nice to see my mom and get some time away from the craziness of Seattle…And you gave me a pretty spectacular birthday present that didn’t hurt either.”

“I feel like we are finally getting back to us, to the Bishop-Delucas and not just a family where one person has cancer,” Carina said, leaning her head on Maya’s shoulder, “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Maya said, pressing a kiss to the top of Carina’s head as she watched the twins run and dance in the waves, never wanting this feeling to end.