Work Text:
Sluggishly, Carina pulls herself up in bed after turning her alarm off. Stifling a yawn, she glances over her shoulder to the not-at-all-surprising empty bed: Maya is off on her usual morning run - a ritual that Carina can’t wrap her mind around. Waking up early is bad enough, but to wake up early to go for a thousand mile run first thing in the morning?
On purpose ?
No, grazie .
She tried it once, for Maya’s sake, when they first started dating and Carina quickly (almost instantly) concluded that she wasn’t a fan - the extra sleep was a much more preferred time to spend the morning.
And although it really wasn’t a thousand miles, per se, it definitely felt like it was.
Again, not a fan.
Not her thing.
Not even in the slightest.
(And isn’t it good for them to have their own solo activities anyway?)
The shared shower afterward , however, she did enjoy - very much so. That aspect of Maya’s morning Carina still crashes every now and again when the mood strikes.
And it often does, she’ll be the first to admit as she is also often the one who initiates it.
Whichever the case may be on any given morning, Carina much prefers to stay behind and sleep a tiny bit more in bed while Maya is off on her early runs. She does wake up in time to make them both breakfast before they (usually, when the schedules align) carpool to work.
Fighting back another yawn and starting to regret her decision to not hit snooze at least once, Carina tosses the blankets aside and swings her legs over the edge of the bed. After a long stretch, one that tempts to bring her back to bed, Carina forces herself on her feet.
She can’t be late again this week.
Though, it wasn’t exactly her fault that she was and she was technically at work - just.. in the passenger seat of her parked car in the parking lot, being heavily distracted by a certain blonde driver (who also ended up being late, but at least she’s the captain).
That didn’t stop the team from giving Maya a hard time about it or proposing wild guesses, all of which Maya denied.
Even when Travis and Vic managed to guess correctly.
She heard from the grape vine that Maya assigned them to extra cleaning duty as a direct result.
The extra assignment served as good enough confirmation. Maya would’ve been better off not doing a thing. Carina decided to not point this out after hearing the story. Some things are better left unsaid sometimes.
Unable to stifle any longer, a loud yawn escapes Carina as she drags her feet against the carpet towards the bathroom. She fumbles for the lightswitch and turns on the lights with a slight grimace - why must the lighting in here be so bright?
She turns her attention to the mirror.
And that’s when she spots it.
In her reflection, her eyes are immediately drawn to... it. A double take confirms its presence, which summons a sudden wave of adrenaline that wakes her better than any amount of finely brewed espresso from home ever could. Breath hitching in her throat, Carina immediately spins on her heel and leans towards the bathroom door, cracked open, and pushes it to a close.
Now wide awake, she returns to the mirror. Carina leans over the edge of the sink to get a closer look. She narrows her eyes and frowns as she spots it again.
It’s not a trick of the light.
It’s not an illusion brought on by the lack of caffeine.
It’s there .
She almost believed this day would never come and instantaneously dreaded when it would. Because it was a when, given both Mamma and Nonna , but they had been in their early 30’s. Carina, now in her late 30’s, thought she had been incredibly lucky.
But her luck ran out.
She stares it down: that singular, thick, strand of silver hair, which stands out so predominantly against the brown.
“ Merda ,” she hisses between her teeth, trying to get even closer to her reflection, willing for it to change suddenly. It doesn’t. “ Merda, merda, merda .”
She reaches up towards the strand, ready to grab it at the root, but her mother’s voice rings in her ears a familiar warning: three more will grow in its place. Instead, Carina tries to brush over it, hide it.
But she spots it every single time.
It sticks out.
It’s all she sees.
It’s all -
With a loud crack, the bathroom door swings open.
“ Porca miseria !” Carina jumps, earning her the same action from Maya who stands in the doorway.
“ Shit !” Maya exclaims, taking a step back. “Are you okay?”
“Don’t look at me,” Carina warns, swooping her hair over to the opposite side. She reaches out to try to close the bathroom door again.
“What are you-?” Maya begins as she steps around the door. “What are you doing? What’s wrong?”
“ Sono una vecchietta - non so perché tu voglia essere insieme con me. ”
“I - what ?” Maya asks again, confusion only growing. “I understood literally none of that. And since when do you part your hair like that?”
“Since right now,” Carina quickly replies.
This isn’t the scene Maya envisioned coming home to while out on her run this morning; she has no idea what any of this is, but it stands in the way of the shower. “Did you.. accidentally burn off a chunk of hair or something?” Maya guesses, looking around the counter for a curler, a straightener, or any evidence of the sort. It’s void of all three potential objects, bringing her back to square one with no further answers and more confusions.
“ That would have been better.”
“Okay, a hair crisis,” Maya confirms, slowly nodding to herself as she looks into the mirror towards Carina, trying to find exactly what is wrong and what caused this frenzy. “Now we’re getting somewhere. Bad.. hair dye?”
“Not by me, no,” Carina snaps, still trying to ensure that her hair doesn’t fall back into place. “I would never.”
Maya tilts her head to the side, eyes narrowing slightly. “Well, I’m pretty sure you didn’t have the world’s quickest hair appointment during my run.”
“And how are you so certain, hmm?”
“Because I highly doubt you’d willingly get up early for that , too.”
She has a point, Carina chooses to not verbally admit. There are very few things beyond a work emergency that could get Carina out of bed so early in the morning.
With a heavy sigh - perhaps one of defeat as she realizes she cannot hide any further, Carina’s shoulders fall. Running her hand through her hair, she allows for it to fall back into its usual place and she gestures at her reflection. “See?”
Maya slowly shakes her head, unsure what she should be looking at. “See what exactly?” she asks back in return, genuine confusion in her voice.
“You don’t see it?”
“I don’t see anything.”
“It’s right there .”
“Right where ?”
“ There .”
Carina carefully picks out the strand in question between her thumb and pointer finger. When Maya sees it, she bites back a laugh that she doesn’t dare voice considering how bothered Carina is by the matter.
“A... grey hair?”
“ First grey hair.”
“I hate to break it to you, Carina, but..” Maya begins, questioning why she is even mentioning this to begin with when it may have been better off unsaid instead. “That… isn’t the first one.”
“ Cosa ?” she nearly shouts, face falling. Carina drops her light grip on the strand and turns her attention back to the mirror. She leans even closer than before and narrow eyes start scanning carefully, trying to pinpoint their unknown target. “ Una vecchietta propria .”
“That’s the second time you’ve said that,” Maya points out. “Care to share what it means?”
The question falls on deaf ears. Carina is too focused on the task presented before her in the mirror.
Maya kicks herself, knowing that she should have seen this coming.
Instead of repeating herself, she comes up behind Carina and places her hands on her shoulders. She slides them down Carina’s arms, successfully stopping the search. Once Carina’s arms are at her side, Maya wraps her arms around her and does her best to rest her chin on Carina’s shoulder.
“I’m an old lady,” Carina finally translates with a huff, unable to move. She doesn’t fight against it.
“Yeah, I definitely need to ship you off to the old folks home,” Maya teases, shaking her head. “You’re overreacting, you know.”
“Am I?” Carina asks, still not budging from Maya’s embrace. “You’re going to wake up one day to a lover full of silver hair. And then what, huh?”
Maya grins, not at all phased by Carina’s intention. “Well, wouldn’t that be incredibly sexy?” she says, placing soft kisses against Carina’s shoulder. “That I get to spend all of those mornings well into our golden years waking up to a woman I deeply love.”
At such a sweet sentiment, a small smile pulls at the corners of Carina’s lips. She turns her head over her shoulder towards Maya and murmurs a quiet ‘I love you.’
“Three grey hairs don’t matter-”
“ Three ?!” Carina jerks towards the mirror again, but Maya holds her in place.
“I was kidding . I’m sorry,” Maya quickly apologizes. “About the three - not about it not mattering, for clarification.”
“You’d be a terrible comedian,” Carina grumbles. “And you’re very sweaty, for the record.”
“Well, I was trying to get to the shower before this crisis, so I don’t think that’s entirely my fault there” Maya points out. “But, would you like to join me?”
“ Sempre ,” Carina answers. “Always.”