Chapter Text
Chapter One
“Well at least the Station is still standing,” Maya joked as she and Carina drove into the parking lot. Carina, her wife. Her incredible, amazing, smart, beautiful wife.
“Of course it is - Andy is sensible,” Carina replied, laughing at the blonde.
Today was their first day back from their two week honeymoon. Having that time together had been so relaxing, Maya had even tanned which had come as a surprise to them both, given that number one, she normally just burnt when in the rays and number two because it felt like they spent a lot of their time in bed.
Although, they had taken the time to explore and get to know the places that they would be staying in. They’d gone on tours, tried all the food that they could, went to the beach, up to the mountains - they’d done everything and it had been amazing.
Maya doesn’t think she’s ever had a more calming two weeks in her entire life, her days always being consumed by the chaos of fire and work meant she could never truly let herself go. But, thankfully she’d been able to get in that mindset to leave everything behind, even if it had taken her a few days at the start.
They had been sent pictures of Enzo from Travis and Emmett proving that their dog was doing well, which made them both happy - their dog truly was the best to ever exist. Plus, Carina’s plants had also miraculously survived so both women were doing great but true to their healthy workaholic selves they were ready to be back at work doing what they loved.
Carina parked the car and they both stepped out and walked hand in hand to the building that was their second home.
Maya pulled open the door for them to walk inside but were met with cannon of confetti and loud cheers and shouts.
“Welcome back!!!”
The couple, well mainly Carina, yelped in shock and surprise as Maya just laughed - she had a feeling that the team would have tried to scare them however the brunette clearly was less cynical than her.
“Thank you guys!” Carina said as they went around in a circle hugging them all.
“How was it?”
“Wow Cap, you look tanned!”
“We better be prepared for workouts now!”
“Finally we can have some good food again!”
“Okay - one at a time,” Maya laughed, wrapping her arm around Carina’s waist.
“Did you guys have fun?” Travis asked, leaning up against the reception desk.
“It was fantastico, grazie Travis,” Carina replied.
“Glad to hear it - we’ve missed you guys around here,” Vic added.
“We missed you all too, but it was nice to get away - have the sun, the sea, some time together.”
“I bet - at least the weather has picked up again - we had some bad rain the first week but its been pretty sunny since, hopefully it will all hold up.”
“Agreed,” Jack said. “I’ve had enough of the rain - way too many careless accidents because of it.”
“You’d think that when it’s raining people would slow down when they drive, but no,” Travis sighed.
“I was saying outside - it’s nice to see the station still standing,” Maya teased, receiving a shove from Andy.
“Okay - we can catch up more later, let’s get shift started,” Maya called out, receiving a groan in response. “Yeah, yeah life’s hard,” she laughed. Everyone began to walk away and get on with their chores as Maya gave Carina a kiss. “See you in a bit?”
“Si, I have some catching up to do with Warren and see what’s been happening while I’ve been away but I might come by after,” Carina replied, giving her one more short kiss before walking away to change into her jumpsuit.
Maya stared at the brunette as she walked, a smile forming her face as she thought about how lucky she was. With a shake of her head she went into her office to change into her uniform before she would have to do a review of everything that had happened while she was away.
She had tried to convince Andy to text her updates but she had refused and instructed her to just enjoy her honeymoon - work free - although she did send her a few messages when they had a rather large fire just to let her know they were all okay and that it went well, something Maya was thankful for.
Once she was changed she heard a knock at her door.
“Come in!” She called, sitting down at her desk.
“Hey,” Andy said walking in. “Good time?”
“Yeah - of course,” Maya welcomed.
The brunette sat down opposite her best friend but her face looked somewhat guilty, her eyes trained on the floor, her head bowed and her hands wringing together, all of which made Maya raise her eyebrows.
“What happened?” Maya asked skeptically, sometimes she wasn’t sure if she wanted the answer to that question, especially when it was to do with something at the Station - there were times when it was better to just let them go unheard.
“So - uhm first of all. It wasn’t my fault,” Andy started, making Maya groan - so it was bad.
“Go on,” Maya prompted with a sigh, now definitely regretting having asked in the first place.
“Well, you see we had gotten back from a house fire, it was probably around three in the morning and we were all exhausted because the woman failed to tell us her sister hadn’t made it out so when we thought we were done we had to back inside-”
“Andy?” Maya interjected, gesturing for her to get to the point.
“Right - okay so we all decided to have some coffee as shift was nearly over anyway at this point and none of us were going to sleep but well- long story short we broke the coffee machine….Carina’s coffee machine…”Andy concluded, the words trailing off at the end as she looked back down at the ground.
Maya just closed her eyes and sighed. “I don’t even want to know how at this point. She’s going to go nuts!”
“I know!! But, we bought a new one and replaced it so she won’t even notice,” Andy pointed out, trying to remain positive. “But I lost the bet so I had to tell you.”
“I leave for two weeks-“
“It wasn’t my fault!! I told them to use the other one but they claimed they knew how to use it!”
“Okay - okay,” Maya laughed. “Go and do some chores and you should be thankful that you all had the right frame of mind to replace it otherwise….well I wouldn’t have a happy wife.”
“Sorry - Cap,” Andy apologised before walking out to do her chores.
A few hours later…
“So Saturday then?” Maya asked her wife who was sitting across her lap while they had some quiet time in the station.
“Sounds good to me Bella,” Carina replied, playing with the ends of blonde hair.
“Okay - I’ll let them all know, at least we can make something out of this weather while it lasts,” Maya added, looking out the window.
“Exactly, and we can use it as a welcome back, catch up party too.”
The two women had decided to host a BBQ to bring everyone together on their day off, the weather was hot and it would be nice to just enjoy the time with everyone relaxing by the pool and eating some good food - something the team had complained they’d been in a deficit of since the couple had left for two weeks.
“I’m just going to get some coffee,” Carina said, jumping off her blonde’s lap, not before giving her a kiss which Maya tried to deepen but was denied by her wife.
“Later,” she whispered with a wink before sauntering off up the stairs. Carina had left the door open to Maya’s office which meant she saw Vic, Andy, Jack, Dean and Travis all hanging around by the reception desk.
“Hey BBQ at our place on Saturday!” Maya called out to them. They all cheered at high-fived in celebration, something that was cut short when a loud shout echoed through the station.
“WHO BROKE MY COFFEE MACHINE?!”
All five of them scattered away in different directions, not wanting to bear the brunt of an angry Italian who had her coffee messed with.
Maya had nowhere to run to exactly, so she just jumped up and closed her door and pulled the blinds shut. She loved her wife more than life itself, but she scared her sometimes - especially when it was about coffee.
Saturday….
“Maya!” Carina called from the kitchen where she was preparing all the food for everyone. “Maya!” She called again, not getting any response. “Where is your mom Enzo?” She asked the dog who just tilted his head to the side and looked at her curiously which made her chuckle.
“Maya, giuro su Dio!” [I swear to God] She muttered making her way into the living room where she found the blonde eyes glued to the television, her fingers flicking and tapping at the controller in her hand as the screen’s graphics kept moving constantly.
“Maya?” Carina repeated, her hands resting on her hips. “Maya?”
“Yeah?” Her wife replied, her tone distracted as her eyes didn’t leave the screen.
“I need your help with all the food.”
“Andy said she will be here at 2,” Maya replied, clearly not having paid any attention to what she’d said.
“Maya!”
“Can I just finish this race please?”
“No - I need you!” The brunette answered.
“Okay - fine,” the blonde relented, switching the TV off and putting away the remote.
“I will never forgive Vic for buying you that as your wedding present,” Carina said, shaking her head. She was perfectly okay with Maya being on it, however when the woman was spending a good few hours on it and ignoring her she drew a line. She’d had it up and running since they’d come back home and she’d been inseparable from it and it didn’t help that both Vic and Travis had one themselves which meant the three would be up late playing whatever it was that they played.
“I’ll get you to play it with me one day,” Maya winked, grabbing her wife by the hips and hugging her from behind.
“Maya - food, come on,” Carina encouraged, trying not to laugh as she felt kisses being peppered across her shoulders.
“Why can’t we just cancel and go upstairs?” Maya joked.
“This was your idea,” Carina pointed out.
“You're supposed to not let me make bad decisions!”
“I didn’t realise having our friends over for a BBQ in the sun was a bad decision,” Carina laughed.
“It is when I just want to have sex with my wife,” she complained.
“Food - now,” Carina ordered, pointing at the knife and some vegetables, which Maya reluctantly picked up but smiled nevertheless.
BBQs in the DeLuca-Bishop household were always an event, full of good food, games and usually a lot of laughs and always a bit of chaos especially when the entire team was there.
The food being served at the BBQ or the “grigliata” as Carina usually deemed it, due to the high temperature, fast paced style of cooking, was a combination of both Italian and American dishes.
The American food was more meaty based, while the Italian was a combination of vegetables, herbs, proteins and lots of olive oil. They also had some swordfish and salmon which Maya was going to cook, as well as both ground buffalo beef as the more traditional beef mince.
Carina had also made some pizzas which would be cooked over the grill because what was an Italian meal without them?
Maya always joked that it was as if they were inviting a small army to the house, to which Carina would also promptly respond with ‘With you lot - it is like feeding a small army’. Which was true, the team did manage to go through a large amount of food at meal times so in retrospect it was probably for the best that they had all of this otherwise they would have some hungry firefighters.
“You can go and get dressed if you want - I can finish up here?” Maya offered seeing that people would be arriving soon and knowing that her wife would take longer to get dressed than she would.
“Bene, can you finish off the peaches and then put them in the fridge, then you heat up the grill so it’s hot enough, oh and wrap-“
“Carina - go and get dressed,” she laughed. “I can figure out a BBQ.”
“Okay, sorry. I’m going,” Carina replied, giving Maya a kiss before running up the stairs.
Once Maya had wrapped up all the food and finished off the peaches, which were a favourite with everyone for dessert, she opened up the back doors to let in the breeze and the sunshine.
Grilled fruit was very popular in Italy and while Maya had been there she had found herself having it a few times a week and had learnt the best ways to do it.
Maya would grill and caramelise them and then fill their empty pits with mascarpone cheese then lightly drizzled with some sweet balsamic syrup. The first time Maya had cooked them had been a few years ago when they’d done a Station cook-out, it had been another competition with Maya and Carina going against Travis and Dean, while they had deemed unfair saying they couldn’t have the two best cooks together.
But ultimately the women had prevailed and since then the peaches had been a staple and they’d be made to make them at any dinner or event that they’d been invited to.
Maya watched as she saw her wife come back down the stairs, a red bikini on that made the blonde’s eyes widen.
“Are you sure we can’t just cancel?” Maya asked.
“Oh stop it,” Carina chuckled, hitting her wife with a tea towel that had been left on the side.
“Jeez - I was just asking,” the blonde mumbled, rubbing her arm dramatically.
“Did you do all the prep?” She asked, looking in the fridge.
“All done - as promised,” Maya said, moving to stand directly behind her wife, arms wrapping around her bare waist and resting her chin on her shoulder.
“Mm hello Bella,” Carina laughed, leaning back into the blonde’s strong embrace.
“Hi,” she whispered.
“You know you should really go and get dressed,” Carina teased.
“In a minute,” Maya countered before she spinned the brunette around, picked her up and put her down on the counter so she was standing in between her legs.
“I guess we have a minute then,” Carina said before pulling the blonde in by her shirt into a deep kiss. The blonde’s hands gripped her waist as moans filled the kitchen, the prospect of their soon to arrive guests a far away thought.
Ten minutes later, after a very interesting makeout session in the kitchen Carina had reluctantly pulled away and told the blonde that she did need to go and get dressed - which was good because just as she was retying her bikini top the doorbell rang.
She quickly pulled on a cover-up over the top as Enzo ran towards the door, although he didn’t bark just patiently yet eagerly waited to see who was on the other side.
Carina ran her fingers through her hair and then opened up the door to reveal Vic, Travis and Emmett.
“Ciao, come in, come in,” Carina said, ushering them all inside.
“Thank you for having us,” Emmett said as they all gave the brunette a hug before giving the dog a stroke who lapped up all the additional attention he’d probably realised he would get today.
“Oh you’re all welcome,” Carina replied, closing the door and walking everyone through into the kitchen.
“I know I said this on your first day back but I have missed your cooking so bad!” Travis cried, staring at the platters of food ready to be grilled and cooked.
“I’m sure you all survived,” Carina joked.
“Oh no - you didn’t have to endure Andy and Jack’s Chicken Tikka Masala which I don’t think even earns the right of being called Chicken Tikka Masala,” Vic recalled with a shudder.
“Well, I am glad you can all have some ‘proper food’ then,” she laughed.
“Where’s Maya?” Travis asked, having not seen the blonde.
“I’m here, I’m here!” A voice called, followed by someone running down the stairs.
“There she is!” Vic said, giving her friend a hug. “That swimsuit looks good Cap!”
“That would be my wife’s influence,” Maya chuckled, looking down at the black costume she had on. Before their honeymoon, Carina had been slightly concerned with her then-fiancé’s lack of swimwear for their honeymoon, which had then meant they’d spent an entire day doing some shopping.
Something Maya had initially complained about until she realised it was more or less her getting to watch the brunette undress so suddenly the day had seemed a lot more bearable. But, in her ‘Carina-induced haze’ as her team liked to call it she had managed to acquire a good number of outfits. The black swimsuit she was wearing now being one of them.
It had a fairly open back, one that exposed her strong upper back muscles, and had gaps running down the sides, which at certain angles showed off her also very toned stomach. It was safe to say Carina was not complaining about the sight one bit.
“Oh we have this!” Vic suddenly spoke up, forgetting about the salad that Emmett had offered to carry.
“Ah yes - grazie!” Carina replied, receiving the dish from the taller blonde. Vic’s salads were always amazing and had offered to bring one, not wanting to turn up empty handed.
“Want us to take anything outside?” Travis offered.
“Please! Maya can help - I won’t interfere with her ‘grilling’” Carina teased, knowing how specific Maya was about her BBQ food.
“On it!” He said, following his Captain’s lead as they took various dishes outside.
“How long did all this take?” Vic asked, seeing the sheer amount of food all laid out, knowing that the fridge was probably full also.
“Not that long - I think I started at around 7. Maya was not much help though thanks to that games console you brought her,” Carina said, raising her eyebrows at her friend.
“Sorry?” Vic winced, though a small smile crept through. “I’m sure once you have a go you’ll enjoy it.”
“That’s what Maya said,” Carina laughed. “But I think I will leave the games to you lot.”
“One day!” Vic teased. “Maybe, we’ll just get you drunk and then you can play,” she added, making the brunette laugh again, knowing that was a very high possibility.
“You don’t have a drink!” Carina cried, suddenly realising that they hadn’t bought anything out yet, having been….preoccupied. “Maya!” She called.
“Yes my love?” Maya asked, poking her head back inside.
“We need drinks.”
“Oh I forgot. I’ll grab them now,” Maya said, walking back inside. She opened up a hidden door that was under the stairs and walked in gaining a confused look from Vic who followed her.
“How did I not know you have a mini wine cellar in here!” She cried, seeing the racks of wine lining the walls. “You’ve lived here for just over a year and a half and you never thought to mention it?!”
“I married an Italian woman, of course I had to build a wine cellar. Plus, it was a compromise - I told her she could have whatever she wanted in the house, as long as it was buildable and didn’t cost a crazy amount of money, she could have it - hence why we have a wine cellar,” Maya explained carrying out various bottles of wine.
With the food they were having, lighter whites were often best, which meant they had a collection of Pinot Grigio, Prosecco, Gavi, Soave, and Arneis for the occasion.
“Hey babe can you grab the beer out of the fridge? I put it in there to chill,” Maya said, after placing the wines outside in buckets of ice so they’d didn’t get too warm in the heat.
“Here you go Bella,” Carina said, pulling a box out, followed by another. What could Maya say: the team liked beer!
“Thank you,” May replied, giving her a few quick pecks before carrying one of the boxes out, Emmet grabbing the other one.
As Maya and Emmett were walking out the doorbell rang again.
“Enzo!” Carina called, already hearing the dog running inside the house.
Enzo stopped short of the door and decided to go over to Vic who began ruffling his curly fur.
“Ciao!” Carina greeted Andy, Robert, Jack and Inara, Dean, Warren and Bailey all arrived together.
Everyone walked in a large collection of chatter filling the house as they all went through to the kitchen, where they greeted Vic, Travis, Emmett and Maya also.
Around half an hour later everyone had resigned to the backyard leaving Carina, Travis and Bailey to the kitchen as the two had offered to help Carina with the final preparations.
“So - how is life as a married woman?” Bailey asked.
“Incredible!” Carina sighed with a smile on her face. “I can’t even explain how it feels - everyday just feels a thousand times more special, I didn’t think I could love her anymore than I did but I seem to prove myself wrong everyday,” Carina added, her eyes now focused on the blonde who was beginning to put items on the grill.
“Such a softie Dr DeLuca,” Travis teased, hugging his best friend.
“So are you! I see the way you look at Emmett - when are you going to do something about that?” Carina asked.
“Oh I love Station gossip,” Bailey grinned, resting against the counter. “Gives me a welcomed break from hospital drama!”
“I’m thinking soon,” he revealed, a blush forming on his cheeks.
“Oh my god!” Carina cheered, wrapping her arms around him. “I’m so happy for you Travis! You’ll need to let me know all the details,” she made him promise.
“Of course,” he smiled.
The door then rang again so Carina wiped her hands on a spare tea towel.
“One final guest!” She laughed, seeing the already full house.
She walked over to the door and pulled it open instantly wrapping her arms around the person behind it.
“Ciao Sorella!” He said.
“I missed you baby brother,” Carina teased, ruffling his hair.
“Are you going to let me in?” He joked, still standing outside.
Carina stepped aside and let him in, closing the door behind them.
“DeLuca!” Bailey cried seeing one of her surgeons enter the kitchen.
“Hi Dr Bailey!” He replied.
“How was the surgery?” She asked.
“Flying colours,” He smiled.
Andrea was going to be here earlier but had been called in to an emergency surgery which was the reason he was a little bit late.
“I am starving!” He said, looking out to where all the food was.
“Food is being cooked now - is there ever a time when you aren’t hungry?” Carina teased.
“Nope,” he grinned, before walking outside. “Where’s my favourite sister-in-law,” He asked as he stepped out.
“I'm your only sister-in-law!” Maya replied, before stepping away from the grill to hug the man.
“Exactly,” he joked. “Therefore you are my favourite.”
“Beer?” She offered.
“Please,” he said as the blond grabbed one out of the larger ice bucket on the ground and handed it over to him. “Thanks.”
“So, what was the emergency?” Warren asked, as he, DeLuca, Robert, Andy, Vic, Jack and Inara all sat down around the large outside dining table.
“Four car pile-up and an overturned tanker - which thankfully only contained liquid sugar, otherwise I have a feeling none of us would be enjoying our day off right now.”
“Oh I bet B shift are having fun right about now - I don’t even want to think about how they are cleaning that up,” Vic laughed. They’d had a similar incident at a maple syrup factory - or what had been a maple syrup factory. They were a start up company but when one of their containers burst open the entire place had been flooded trapping the owners inside. It was safe to say the team didn’t consume any maple syrup for the next few months after that.
“But, somehow there were minimal injuries - mostly sprains, one or two broken arms but I had the driver of the tanker who had a penetrating wound to the abdomen - but we had it under control and he should make a full recovery,” he finished.
“Glad to hear it,” Warren said.
“Hey Dean could you go and ask Carina for the chicken please and say burgers are almost ready?” Maya asked.
“Sure thing Cap,” he nodded.
“So how are things with you Emmett?” Maya asked, flipping over some of the meat and plating other parts up.
Emmett was a paramedic, which was how he’d met Travis actually. They’d run a call together and had then bumped into one another in the ER and they’d been together ever since, almost longer than Maya and Carina had but since Travis’s late husband she knew how hard it had been for him to open himself up to the possibility of marriage again. But he got on well with the team and was able to put up with their antics and general chaos - which had been proven when they'd gone on their camping trip all those years ago with the cliffside car accident.
“Good thanks - I’m trying to convince Travis to get a dog, which I think he is warming up to now after we took care of Enzo while you were away. But, he is stubborn, not like I didn’t know that already though,” he laughed.
“That he definitely is - but I’d say go for it. I was slightly hesitant to get Enzo and look at us now, we couldn’t imagine life without the little guy,” Maya said.
“I’ll just keep asking until he says yes,” Emmett laughed.
“Good call,” Maya chuckled.
“Hey Cap - here is your chicken and Carina says she will be out any second,” he recalled.
“Thanks Miller,” Maya replied, taking the chicken off of him and putting that down on the grill. “Do you mind taking over for a moment?” She asked him, to which he shook his head.
Maya removed the apron that was covering her body, a gift from Carina which had the words ‘I don’t know what I’m doing’ printed on it, which was ironic given Maya was the only one between the two of them that actually knew how to use the grill, but they’d both found it funny and she would always wear it regardless.
She left Miller and Emmett to the grill before walking over to everyone, most of which were all seated at the table.
“Okay - food is almost done,” she said, receiving a loud cheer from everyone. “Anyone want another drink?” She asked - they had some non-alcoholic drinks in the cooler also for those who either didn’t drink or had to drive but with this lot there would almost always be at least one strange request.
“No, I think we are all good,” Andy said, seeing no one protest.
“Okay - cool. I’m just going to grab a pair of shorts,” Maya said, before giving her wife a kiss and walking in.
“Oh can you grab a jug of water bambina?” Carina called back, receiving a thumbs up in response.
25 minutes later everyone had their plates full and conversation was flowing easily.
“Vic, can you pass over the fish?” Jack asked.
“Who wants another burger?”
“Where’s the chicken?”
“Can I have another beer?”
“Who wants a top-up?”
“Is there any more pizza?”
“Warren is the salad near you?”
“So, Maya isn’t the conference next week?” Andy asked as everyone began to settle.
“Yeah Monday through to Friday so I will need you to be interim captain,” Maya said, which got a nod from Andy.
“What is it anyway?” Vic asked.
“It’s a conference for the best performing Captain in every state - they go through new technology, safety presentations, workshops on techniques that they use that help us become more efficient, a few talks from some higher up officials, some veterans also and there’s also some chances to view new equipment also, turnouts, axes, boots - it’s a bit of a mixture to be honest,” Robert explained, being one of the people that had a lot of knowledge about these events.
“Oo sounds interesting,” Travis said, taking another piece of chicken.
“I wish I got to go to conferences,” Bailey complained.
“Why can’t you - can’t someone look after the hospital while you are away?” Maya asked, making both Warren, DeLuca and Bailey herself laugh.
“Ha - you think I’d trust those people to look after my hospital. Absolutely not - it’s chaos when I am there, god forbid what it would be like if I wasn’t. We’d be having every single experimental surgery on the planet being performed, the most expensive equipment being bought on the dime and probably about a million regulations would be broken. So, no I do not go to conferences,” Bailey explained.
“Got it,” Maya said with a laugh.
“You know I don’t think I will have to eat for another four days,” Andy said.
“You always say that after any meal we make for you,” Carina laughed.
“Because it’s true.”
“You’ll go home and say you're hungry,” Robert joked, getting a whack on the arm from his wife.
“Also true though,” Maya added, getting a whack from both Andy and Carina who were sat either side of her okay. “Ah - okay! Let’s keep our hands to ourselves!”
Once everyone had finished with their food everyone began to tidy away, leaving out some plates of food like the salmon, chicken, any leftover sausages - it was a miracle that there were any leftovers to begin with but in fairness they had bought and cooked probably half of the store.
“I think our dog likes your brother more than us,” Maya joked seeing Enzo playing in the garden with Andrea.
“He always loved dogs - papa never let us have one as kids, but when he moved to the US with mama he was allowed one but it died just after he went to college,” Carina explained. “But, I would say Enzo will come back to us soon, nothing to worry about bella,” she laughed.
“We’re going in the pool - are you two coming in?” Travis asked as he removed his tank top.
Maya looked at Carina, “Want to go in babe?”
“Sì let’s do it,” Carina nodded. Maya removed her shorts and Carina lifted off her coverup as Vic, Dean, Andrea, Travis, Emmett and Andy all followed suit revealing their respective swimsuits before they all got into the pool.
Maya dipped her head down into the water enjoying the freshness it brought especially with the strong heat raging down on Seattle.
“God the water feels so good!” Vic said as she stepped in.
“Cannonball!” Andrea cried before jumping in the pool, making a wave of water.
“Andrea!” Carina cried, hitting her brother, which he promptly just splashed her back with a laugh. “Sei così fastidioso!” [You are so annoying!] Making him and Maya laugh.
“Ah I love you too,” he smirked, wrapping her in a hug before dunking her in the pool.
“I swear!” Carina yelled as her head came back out of the water.
“Maya come and get your wife!” Andrea called, making the blonde laugh but she still quickly swam over to the brunette and turned her around, brushing her hair out of her face.
“Thought I’d come and save you,” Maya said with a grin.
“Save me or my brother?” Carina asked, wrapping her legs around the blonde as hands pulled her in close.
“Mainly your brother, I don’t think you’d need saving,” Maya laughed.
“Hm true,” Carina replied, pulling Maya into a soft kiss. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” Maya replied, giving her another kiss.
“Okay lovebirds - do you want to play a game?” Travis asked.
“Sure,” Maya said. “What game?”
“Chicken?” He suggested.
“Okay - I’m down,” Maya nodded. “Can we pick partners?”
“Sure.”
“Carina!”
“Vic!” They both called out respectively.
“Come on - you need to beat Vic!” Maya encouraged.
“Okay - sure,” Carina laughed, knowing her wife was getting competitive already.
Maya and Travis both ducked under the water while Carina and Vic got on top of their shoulders, and were then lifted in the air.
“You okay?” Maya asked, looking up at her wife.
“Andiamo a vincere!” [We’re going to win!]
“You know it!” Maya winked. “Ready?” Maya asked, receiving a nod from Vic.
“Okay - ready, set, go!” Andy shouted. Everyone began cheering and calling out for a team.
“Go Carina!!”
“Come on Vic!!”
The two teams got closer as both Carina and Vic tried to push one another off.
“Get her Carina!” Maya called, laughing.
“Come on Vic! Don’t let me down!” Travis yelled.
Both Vic and carina were still trying, but kept laughing which meant it was a very poorly attempted fight but with one final push they both ended up splashing into water.
“Wait who won?” Jack asked.
“Draw?” Andy proposed getting a loud groan from everyone. No one liked draws in the Station - it was an unspoken rule that they would always find a winner in their little competitions that they held.
Everyone was beginning to wind down, after many more rounds of chicken including a battle between the DeLuca siblings, as well as all the couples having a round also - Maya refusing to lose to her wife who she knew would hold it over till the end of time.
Maya was now sitting at one end of the pool, a beer in hand while she was talking to Andy.
“Where’s Matteo?” Maya asked, having recognised the loss of Andy’s son.
“He’s with Michelle today - some Aunty and Nephew bonding time apparently,” Andy replied. “Which gives us some nice time off - we love him but it’s nice to just have the day you know?” She added, having a sip of her beer.
“I think I will just stick with Enzo for now,” Maya laughed.
“Have you ever thought about kids?” Andy asked, trying to be cautious not knowing what her best friend’s stance was on the topic.
“I mean we’ve talked about it - like what we see in our future, it’s one of the reasons we bought a big house so we have room for kids in the future. But for now I think we are just going to stay just us. I mean we’ve only been married just over two weeks,” Maya chuckled.
“That’s very true,” Andy agreed. “Just do everything at your own pace and you and Carina will be fine.”
“Speaking of Carina I am going to find my wife,” Maya said, downing the last of her beer before swimming towards the edge of the pool where she was greeted by a smiling brunette.
“Hi bella.”
“I was just coming to look for you,” Maya said.
“Funny, I was coming to look for you,” Carina replied, giving the blonde a kiss.
“Oh yeah - what do you need?”
“Peaches,” Carina said.
“Come on - let’s go.” Maya pushed herself out of the pool, not missing the way Carina stared at her arms as she did.
“Today has been really nice,” the brunette said as they walked back inside.
Maya turned around and saw all of her family together, laughing and chatting in the sun.
“It’s good to be home,” Maya smiled.