Work Text:
When Jo Wilson came to her and asked to be her fellow, it had confused Carina for sure, but she ended up starting to admire the younger woman. They weren’t close by any means before Jo’s OB/GYN fellowship, but now they had become quite good friends. Carina wasn’t sure how their friendship had gotten her here. If she really thought about it, it all started a little while after Jo started working with her.
*3 weeks ago*
“Alright, Wilson, where should my incision be for this baby since he is a breech baby?” Carina asked as she held her scalpel.
“Is that a trick question?” The fellow asked her, eyes wide and the Italian just shrugged.
“No lo so, if you get it right, maybe I’ll let you take the lead on this, I know you can handle a scalpel.”
“The incision is in the same place, just the procedure after is different,” Jo answered confidently.
“Good, what is the proper procedure?” Carina asked, she was confident Jo knew, and the new ob answered perfectly. It was nice to just observe instead of having to do it. She trusted Jo could do this, the month she’d been Carina’s fellow showed she had natural talent in OB, but they hadn’t done very many C-sections.
“Thank you for teaching me, everyone thought I was crazy for switching specialities, but even just observing you bring life into the world is- it’s amazing,” Jo smiled at Carina as soon as she finished the first incision.
“Yeah, it’s amazing,” Carina replied, fondly looking back to some of her favorite cases.
“Levi was the worst, he just- he was so discouraging about it. Don’t get me wrong, I love him and I love living with him but sometimes he’s a lot.”
“I get that, I started living with Maya and I love her but she is so infuriating sometimes. Like, she invited her friend to move in without asking me and I enjoy Andy, but then it became impossible to be alone,” Carina paused, “I mean, the apartment is only 2 bedrooms, and it wasn’t too crowded, but there was nowhere to take a moment alone. I liked living with Andy, but I can’t lie and say I hate that she moved out. She still comes over to hang out, but now it’s not overbearing.”
“Yeah, but do you at least have your own room now, right? Schmitt and I are in a loft. There is no privacy whatsoever!”
“Si, Maya and I have our own room, I can’t really complain anymore than I have, I’m sure living with Schmitt is harder.”
“Do you mean ‘rooms?’” Jo asked with a raised eyebrow, still focusing on the baby.
“I don’t believe so, but maybe. Sometimes my brain short-circuits in English. Especially with the stress of the pandemic.”
“Yeah, that makes sense, I guess. How long have you and Maya lived together?”
“Since 3 weeks into the pandemic.”
“Ah, not too long then.”
“Nope, it’s actually amazing, I may complain about the Andy thing a bit, but living with Maya- it’s so-” Carina broke into a laugh to fill her pause, “I don’t know, I love not living alone. Plus, she is pretty great company,” Carina bit her lip under her mask. Some very not great for work images of Maya popped into her head.
“Yeah, I kinda feel that way with Schmitt.”
“Eh, it’s a little different,” Carina told Jo who just shrugged in response.
That day should’ve been the first telltale sign, but Carina thought it was obvious. Sure she never explicitly said anything, but it’s not like she told Jo she was single. She had literally been the talk of the hospital when she told Amelia who told Maggie Teddy who told Owen who told Jackson who told everyone else that Maya cheated on her. Then, of course, it was quickly forgotten when Owen found out Teddy cheated with Koracik. That had been much bigger talk.
*2 weeks ago*
“That was amazing! I mean, the mom nearly died- she wasn’t even our patient! Within, what? Two minutes you had saved her life!”
“Well, one day you have to be able to do that too, she could’ve died, postpartum bleeds cause too many deaths, so you need to be able to do that eventually,” Carina answered nonchalantly. She had just done her job, it was something all OBs need to be able to do.
“You’re not giving yourself enough credit! You saved a life because you were passing her room on your way to lockers to change out of your scrubs!” Jo enthused.
“Yeah, it was something cool, come on,” Carina practically dragged Jo to the lounge.
Jo walked to her locker and watched as Carina checked her phone. The lock screen was a photo of the doctor and who she assumed was Maya. It was a selfie the blonde on it had taken with Carina on her back, both of them giggling.
“That’s a cute picture,” Jo pointed out, but she felt something stir in her stomach.
“Oh, yeah, we went hiking last week when we both had time off and she ended up taking this photo. We both were so sweaty,” Carina fake shivered in the memory before looking at her fellow who was starting to change from her scrubs, “Alright, tell me the best way to deal with a postpartum bleed while I change.”
“Okay, make sure all the placenta is removed, examine anywhere that may be causing the bleed to find out the source, if it’s a uterine bleed like the last patient, you- uhm,” Jo paused as she looked up at Carina, the doctor who was currently only in her underwear and a shirt that wasn’t at all buttoned as she grabbed her pants.
“Wilson?”
“Right- sorry,” Jo snapped out of her daze and looked at her hands, “You place a Foley catheter.”
“Perfetta!” Carina exclaimed and as she buttoned her shirt, tucked it into her newly on pants and grabbed her bag to leave.
“W-wait! Do you wanna get coffee? On me to celebrate that big save! Plus, we did just work all night,” Jo asked the older doctor who looked at her sympathetically.
“I would love to, but uhm I have plans with Maya, so next time?” Carina smiled and Jo nodded eagerly.
She had thought Maya was insane for telling her Jo was starting to develop feelings. She told her girlfriend that she was being ridiculous. She had thought it jealousy, so she told her girlfriend, “It does not even matter, bambina. I only have feelings for a super hot, olympian, fire captain. She has blonde hair you might know her.”
“Oh shut up!” Maya shook her head as she laughed softly, her mind taken off of Jo.
Of course, Carina had thought nothing of it, why would she?
*1 week ago*
“Bene, be safe, okay?” Carina said before waiting a moment, presumably for a response, and hanging up the phone.
“What was that about?” Jo asked, she had only heard the last part as she walked into the doctor’s lounge to grab a quick snack.
“After shift, I was gonna bring Maya coffee and hang out at the station with her for a bit, but there’s a big fire, so we had to cancel,” Carina answered before pulling her hair up into a ponytail.
“I’m not your roommate, but I can be pretty good company if you wanna get coffee with me. I know our shift ends at like, 9, but it’s never too late for coffee,” Jo offered.
“Sure, why not?” Carina answered before they got paged.
Then they found themselves outside a coffee shop.
“Meno male (thank god) you don’t drink ‘frappuccinos’, Americans have taken someone so good and just- I don’t know. It infuriates me when Maya does it, half of the time you cannot even taste the caffe!” Carina ranted.
“I’m gonna pretend that wasn’t my second choice then,” A nervous grin spread across Jo’s face.
“Dio mio! You too!?”
“They taste good!”
“They aren’t real caffe!” Carina argued and Jo just shrugged.
“You’d enjoy them if you tried,” Jo told Carina, but the Italian shook her head no.
“I took a sip of one of the ones Maya got and almost threw up. They taste like pure sugar.”
“I think you mean they taste American,” Jo smiled and Carina just shook her head in faux-disappointment
She saw herself being friendly. She didn’t realize she’d been perceived as flirtatious. She wished she had. If she had realized maybe she wouldn’t be here. Sitting on her and Maya’s couch, frantically texting the blonde and begging her to come home.
*Early that day*
They were getting coffee on their way home. Both had worked a night shift again and Jo had done her first delivery without Carina even being in the room since becoming a fellow, so Carina was gonna treat her to coffee. She was also gonna get some for Maya, she had paid, they had been drinking their coffees, just talking. Carina had been telling a story about Italy and when she looked up to see Jo examining her face. Before she knew what was happening, Jo’s lips were on hers. She froze in a moment of confusion before pushing Jo so she wasn’t leaning across the table anymore. More importantly so that she wasn’t kissing Carina.
“I’m sorry, I guess- I thought I made it clear, I’m dating Maya. I thought the whole hospital knew after we were the talk of it for a few days. It was uhm a little after Alex left so you probably missed it… look I have to go, I’ll see you tomorrow,” Carina rambled before grabbing her and Maya’s coffees and basically running home. Maya was asleep when she went into the bedroom. She took a very, very hot shower. She felt dirty. She didn’t do anything wrong, but she felt dirty. She brushed her teeth about a thousand times, used mouthwash a few hundred times.
When she left the bathroom about an hour after she entered it, she saw Maya sitting up on the bed. She basically jumped onto the blonde, pressing their lips together. Trying to pretend the whole Jo thing earlier didn’t happen.
Maya softly pushed her away.
“Babe, what happened? Are you okay?” Maya asked, she certainly didn’t mind the onslaught of kisses, but it was a bit of a surprise.
“N-nothing, I’m fine. I just missed you,” Carina answered with a small smile before reconnecting their lips.
She should’ve just told Maya, maybe they wouldn’t have ended up here.
*45 minutes ago*
“We don’t have sex enough,” Maya mumbled into Carina’s hair. The brunette’s head on her chest as she spooned Maya’s body.
“We have it pretty much everyday,” Carina laughed and lifted her head to make eye contact with the blonde.
“And it’s not nearly enough!” Maya exclaimed and connected their lips again.
“Mm, many points made,” Carina mumbled against Maya’s lips before she moaned at the feel of a tongue slipping into her mouth.
Then, her phone rang.
“Ignore it,” Maya begged, but one check at the caller ID and Carina knew she couldn’t.
“It’s Jo, she may need help with a patient.”
“Is she even working right now?”
“I don’t know,” Carina shrugged and picked it up, Maya’s lips on her neck.
She forgot about just hours earlier, she wasn’t sure how, but she did. She forgot about hours earlier and naively put it on speaker.
“Carina, I’m so sorry about earlier, kissing you” Maya’s lips stop as Carina frantically reached for the phone she put down to take it off speaker or just hang up “was completely out of line. It won’t happen again and-”
“Wilson, I have to go,” Carina hung up, but it was too late, Maya was already off the bed, getting dressed.
“Bambina-”
“I’m going for a run.”
“Maya, just listen-” SLAM!
This whole situation sucked.
She texted Maya again, It didn’t mean anything, I stopped her and I came home to you!
She called Teddy to make sure there was no blonde fire captain in the ER and she was told she’d be called if one showed up.
Part of her felt like she may need to pack, that Maya may be cheating on her again. She wanted to vomit.
She also texted Jo to apologize for the abruptness, but also to say she was a little busy with an emergency and that she couldn’t talk.
Then, she broke some liquor. She drank and she tried to distract herself with books, but it didn’t work so she would drink some more. Maya finally got home after around 4 hours.
“How was your sex with Jack?” Carina asked when she saw the blonde.
“It didn’t happen, I had to talk to someone, I went to Andy’s,” Maya told her before taking in the surroundings. Carina had just been drinking some whiskey straight from the bottle. Whiskey wasn’t a drink Carina ever really had unless she was trying to get black-out drunk, so practically never.
“She kissed me, and I pushed her away and came home.”
“You didn’t tell me, you tried to distract yourself with sex instead, and I love sleeping with you, but you should’ve told me. Keeping it a secret- that’s why I’m mad, it makes it seem like there’s more to it than just a kiss.”
“Also the fact you were right about her having feelings for me,” Carina mumbled crankily.
“I love you and I trust you and after talking to Andy I understand why you did it. She helped me reason I guess, but you can’t do it again.”
“Okay.”
“And I don’t want you working with her anymore!”
“I still let you work with Jack and you slept with him!”
“Yeah, that’s fair… I don’t want you in rooms alone with her anymore!”
“I’ll try my best.”
“Thank you,” Maya paused, “Carina?”
“Hmm?”
“I’m sorry for running.”
“I’m sorry for not telling you.”
“Next time you get a new fellow, let’s try to prevent this,” Maya stuck her tongue out at the Italian who rolled her eyes before kissing the blonde softly.