Work Text:
Maya woke up to shuffling and a warm body disconnecting from her own. She groaned and opened her eyes slightly to see Carina pulling a bra over her shoulders, apparently getting dressed. Maya closed her eyes again and rolled over, not ready to start the day unlike her girlfriend who Maya had just heard leave the bedroom.
She had wanted to spend the morning in bed with Carina, knowing she wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep, especially without Carina being like a koala wrapped around her body, Maya laid in bed for a little longer before getting ready to start her day. She threw on a pair of boy shorts and one of Carina’s button up shirts, not really feeling like buttoning it though.
She brushed her teeth and left the bedroom, expecting to smell coffee or french toast, or anything cooking. She was, instead, met with Carina’s back as the doctor read something.
“Good morning,” Maya’s voice came out raspy as she went to hug Carina from behind, the Italian instantly slamming whatever it was upside down onto the counter so Maya couldn’t read it, “Everything okay?” Maya asked suddenly.
“Si, just some mail that I hadn’t gotten to yet,” Carina answered and spun around in Maya’s arms, her eyes not as bright as usual.
“That letter was from…” Maya trailed off, leaving it open for Carina to inform her, but the doctor just maneuvered her way out of Maya’s arms, making sure to grab the letter before heading back into the room.
“Plain American coffee it is,” Maya mumbled as she went to start the pot. She was cleaning up a bit as the toast she was making, well… toasted and she noticed Carina had left the envelope to whatever letter she had gotten out on the counter. The blonde picked it up before biting her lip and laying it back down. She should respect Carina’s boundaries. It’s none of her business.
But it also had bummed Carina out, Maya thought before picking it up again. She went back and forth between her options a few more times before just mumbling, “screw it” and reading the envelope. It was addressed to Carina from a bank. Not the one her and Carina used though. She knew it seemed familiar, when it finally hit her- Andrew’s bank- Carina was walking out of the room, fully dressed for work, noticed what was in Maya’s hand and tore it away.
“Carina, I was just cleaning up and-”
“It’s just a letter from Andrew’s bank. I just have to finish getting everything settled,” Carina shrugged, Maya felt like she wasn’t being told the whole truth but didn’t push it.
Carina was on her way out the door and Maya couldn’t take her eyes off the doctor, she was so curious, but she wanted to give the older woman space.
“Hey,” Maya started and caught Carina’s attention as the doctor was halfway out the door, “I love you.”
“I love you too,” Carina gave a soft smile before pulling her mask over her other ear and leaving Maya alone in the quiet of their apartment.
Maya couldn’t stop thinking about what Carina was hiding from her. She couldn’t stop thinking about why or what it could be. Maya had kind of a little bit maybe switched herself and Gibson for the day, wanting to be on aid car to hopefully get to see Carina. The day was hectic, there was the bridge collapsing and it kept her and the team busy, she was at Grey-Sloan, delivering a woman who had been injured where she saw Carina speaking quickly to Bailey, using one hand to cover her phone. Both women seemed concerned and after a few seconds Carina threw her head back in frustration, murmured something else and walked away.
“Hughes, I’m gonna be right back, if in 5 minutes you can’t find me, just go back to the scene and I’ll meet you there,” Maya informed, going to follow her girlfriend.
She had caught up to Carina, who had taken her mask off, presumably to be better heard over the phone and she was in an isolated area by the elevators, and heard the woman saying, “Yeah, yeah, I understand. I will get it handled. Thank you.” Carina motioned like she was gonna punch the wall as she let out a frustrated scream, but in the end held her fist back as she started pacing near the elevators. The brunette didn’t notice her girlfriend until the captain cleared her throat.
“Is everything okay?” Maya asked hesitantly.
“Fine- I’m dealing with it, I don’t need you babysitting me, Maya, you can go back to the station,” Carina mumbled.
“I’m not babysitting, I’m worried.”
“You don’t need to be,” Carina insisted, even though she knew it was a lie.
“Okay but- are you-” Maya took a deep breath, “Are you okay?”
“My visa is expiring and I might have to go back to Italy,” Carina answered, Maya felt her eyes get wide as realization struck her. Carina put her mask back on and grabbed Maya’s hand, pulling her into the now open elevator.
“You- You- Why?”
“My brother sponsored me into the country,” Carina answered, leaving the ‘no more brother, no more visa,’ up to implication.
“Oh, well, how does it even work? Could I sponsor you now?” Maya asked, suddenly realizing how much she didn’t know about the US immigration system, especially for someone dating an immigrant.
“Ha, not unless you want to marry me,” Carina joked, but a lightbulb went off in Maya’s head.
“Let’s get married then!”
“What? No!” Carina answered. They had made it to her office and she took her mask and found her way to her desk as Maya sat down on the couch.
“Carina, I’m serious, I love you- God, I love you so much, I can confidently say you’re the love of my life, so marry me. I’ll get you a ring and everything and most importantly, you won’t have to go back to Italy!” Maya smiled and Carina shook her head.
“No, I don’t need a free handout Maya. I talked to Bailey, I’m trying to get a work visa, but for now I just hope my citizen request goes through before I have to go to Italy,” Carina told Maya, eyes trained on the wall behind the blonde.
“It’s not a handout, I love you, I want to marry you- maybe I didn’t plan on this soon- but I want to be with you! The work visa could take a while, what if you have to move back to Italy before you get it.”
“Then we do long distance until I do, Maya, I love you, but marriage- no.”
“It’s not only marriage, Car! It’s making ends meet and showing how much we love each other! And-”
“Maya, you’re asking me- and yourself- to make one of the biggest commitments someone can make, getting married is gonna do nothing but put strain on our relationship! On us!” Carina argued. She knew 2 years ago Maya suggesting the idea of marriage to anyone would have never happened, but 2 years ago getting married was never gonna happen for Carina. She didn’t settle, certainly not on a whim.
“Carina, you moving to Italy would strain our relationship too! You’re being unreasonable! Just marry me!” Maya responded, frustration evident in her voice. This was feeling a little too much like rejection, this is why she didn’t talk about stupid feelings.
“Maya, you don’t want to be married you just want-”
“Shut up! It’s what I want, Carina. You are who I want! Stop thinking so much about it!” Maya told her girlfriend, she could see the gears going off in Carina’s brain.
“If we get married, you can’t tell anyone,” Carina ordered, causing confusion to arise in the blonde’s face.
“Why not?”
“It’s not a real marriage, just so I can stay in the country, there’s nothing to share.”
“Okay, but I’d tell Andy. I tell her everything.”
“Then Andy would tell Sullivan and-”
“You know what? Just get the stupid work visa since marrying me is the worse thing and no one can know,” Maya threw her hands up in the air and trudged out the door.
“Maya wait-” Carina ran after the blonde who just stared at brown eyes, pain evident in her own blue ones.
“I don’t want to get married. I never have, never will. I especially don’t want to get married because my brother died and I need a green card. I want our life together to be on our own terms, not because the government is kicking me out.”
“This is on our terms! It’s the easiest way for us to avoid the government while taking another step.”
“Maya, I love you, but I don’t know if this is the right step. Our relationship has been like, leaps. Every step we make, good or bad, it’s a leap, this is another one. We need to start taking it at baby steps to avoid getting hurt,” Carina explained her thoughts and Maya looked at her girlfriend. She had made a good point, but they could start baby steps anytime that wasn’t right now.
“Carina, what we have is fantastic and it’s ours… just ours, so let’s get married. Let’s get married and not tell anyone until we want to do it again, a big ceremony or just never. Right now, we need to keep what is ours safe.”
The reason for them getting married was unconventional, but so had been most of their relationship. Just one more step towards the finish line.