Work Text:
April 2023
Maya steps around the door of the locker room as she hears the rest of the team dissecting the most recent call they had returned back from. They’re all in various states of undress and Maya smirks as she watches Jack struggle to untangle himself from the shirt he’s trying to pull over his head.
“Hey Nineteen, good job out there today.” She offers them from where she stands, hands clasped in front of her.
There are echoes of “ thanks, cap ” from each of them as they continue to get themselves dressed post showers.
“Breakfast at my place after shift, if anyone’s game?” She says then.
Maya has wanted to have some time outside of the station house to decompress with her teammates and it feels like it’s been ages since she’s been able to hang out with her friends. Carina had suggested she do a breakfast or a brunch for them at the apartment since she was going to be out at work all day.
“When you say breakfast…” Jack starts, “do you mean, Carina will be there, so excellent breakfast?” He takes a step back. “Or is this a power smoothie breakfast? Because this shift has been a lot and I’m not down for that!”
Maya rolls her eyes at him. “No, Carina won’t be there.” She tells him, “but I can cook, thank you very much.” She defends, relaxing her stance and shoving her hands in her jean pockets.
“So…breakfast, like..?” Vic asks
“Breakfast like pancakes and pastries and bacon and eggs. Maybe a Bloody Mary or two.” Maya shrugs.
“Okay! I’m in. You had me at Bloody Mary’s!” Vic exclaims, grabbing her bag and throwing it over her shoulder. The others nod in agreement.
“Okay, great. I’m going to hand over to B shift and head out to get started.” She says, jerking her thumb over her shoulder. “So just head to my place whenever you’re ready.” She tells them as she turns to head back to her office.
“Wait up!” She hears Vic call out and turns her head to see her jogging to catch up with her as she hastily ties her braids up into a loose ponytail. “I’ll catch a ride with you and help you get prepped if you want?” Vic offers.
“Sure that’d be great.” Maya smiles at her as they enter reception. Maya pulls her keys out of her pocket and tosses them to Vic. “You can wait in the car if you want, I’ll just do a real quick handover.”
Vic catches the keys with a fumble and nods her head, heading out of reception and out to the car, whilst Maya heads back into her office.
When they arrive back at the apartment, Maya and Vic busy themselves with getting breakfast started. Vic pulls out the necessary ingredients for Bloody Mary’s and rummages in the cupboard for the pitcher that she knows Maya keeps there. Whilst Maya mixes up pancake batter that she sets aside once complete, Vic mixes tomato juice with vodka, horseradish, Worcestershire sauce, pepper, celery salt, tobasco and lemon juice. She gives the mixture a stir with a spoon before pulling it out and giving it a quick taste test. She groans in pleasure, which draws a laugh from Maya, before tossing the spoon into the sink. Vic pulls out two tumblers from the cupboard above Maya’s head. She makes up a garnish of tajin lime salt and chilli flakes on a plate and uses it to make a rim garnish on both glasses. She fills them with ice, tops them up with the drink and adds a slice of lemon to each and a celery stick. She moves over to where Maya is laying bacon in a griddle pan and offers her one of the drinks.
“For the chef.” She says, as Maya wipes her hands with a cloth before taking one. They clink their glasses together in silent cheers and both take a long pull from the drinks.
“Ohh. Yes. Just what the doctor ordered.” Vic say’s with a little shimmy of pleasure.
Maya smiles and places her glass on the counter next to where she was prepping breakfast. She continues with the bacon and once finished, moves on to laying part baked pastries from the freezer onto a baking tray. She flicks the oven on to pre-heat.
“Hey, there’s a bunch of fruit in the fridge if you could start cutting some up to go with the pancakes?” Maya asks Vic who is grabbing plates and glasses out of cupboards.
“Sure.” Vic say’s as she deposits the last of the crockery onto the dining table. She moves to the fridge and is immediately distracted by the series of ultrasound images tacked to the door of the fridge. She points to the most recent one - from last week, when Carina had her 32 week growth scan - a 3D image of their baby. “Dude, that kid looks like Carina!” Vic exclaims looking closer.
Maya laughs, “I know right? It’s the mouth. It’s so crazy. I wasn’t expecting the 3D imaging to be honest, but it’s pretty cool.” Maya says, moving to stand next to Vic at the fridge door.
“How is Carina doing?” Vic asks, it’d been a few weeks since they’d seen her at the station, the next clinic day not until the following week.
“She’s okay,” Maya says with a small smile, moving back to the oven and putting the pastries in to start cooking. “She’s thirty two weeks, so getting a little tired now. Her back aches a lot and she’s started getting some braxton hicks contractions. But she’s still calm. Of course.” She adds with a fond roll of her eyes.
“Of course.” Vic echoes with a laugh as she pulls cartons of strawberries out of the fridge to slice along with a carton of blueberries. “Did you ever decide on a name? You went quiet on that front.” She asks.
Maya shakes her head as she places the griddle pan on the heat to start cooking the bacon. “We have a list of possibilities narrowed down, but Carina doesn’t think we’ll be able to name them until they’re here. She doesn’t want us to get our heart set on one until we know who we have.” Maya explains.
“And how are you with that?” Vic asks with a glance over her shoulder to where Maya is standing at the stove.
Maya shrugs, “Okay. I mean, I have slight preferences. But if she needs to wait, then we’ll wait.” She sees Vic open her mouth to speak and cuts her off, “and don’t even ask! There’ve been very few surprises about all of this, because of the nature of the process. Who this baby is, and whatever they might be called, is going to be a surprise for all of you!” She says as she turns the oven down and slides the dish of cooked bacon into the oven to keep warm and removes the tray of cooked pastries.
Vic sticks her tongue out petulantly, as she transfers berries into a serving bowl. “Okay. Fair.”
Maya moves to put the tray of cooked pastries on the table along with the serving bowls of fruit and syrup for the pancakes she’ll cook.
“Oh, did you get the nursery finished?” Vic asks her, just as they hear the rattle of the front door and the voices of the rest of the group arriving.
She nods at Vic, “Mostly. It’s not organised, but it’s decorated and the furniture is in.” She tells her, before turning to the newest arrivals. “Hey. Thanks for coming.” She says as they all huddle by the front door, shucking out of jackets and hanging them on the coat rack.
Vic walks over with two fresh Bloody Mary’s and hands them to Ben and Travis. She turns back to grab another two for Jack and their newest probie Lucy, Jack declines raising the case of beer he brought with him.
“Beer with breakfast?” Vic wrinkles her nose is distaste.
“You guys have cocktails, I’m gonna have a beer. Besides, it’s all good, I'll be hitting the sack as soon as we’re done here.” He adds and Vic shrugs in acquiescence.
“Is anyone else coming?” Maya asks and Ben shakes his head in the negative. “They all had things to get home for, but everyone was grateful for the invite.
“I texted Andy on the way over and she might swing by if she can get away for a bit, but we’ll see.” Jack adds as he rummages through the utensils drawer looking for a bottle opener.
Maya moves back to the stove to start cooking pancakes, Vic joins her back in the kitchen, starting to mix up a fresh batch of Bloody Mary mix. “So,” She starts up their previous conversation as though they’d never been interrupted,” Can I take a peek?”
“At what?” Maya asks, confused. Flipping three pancakes onto a plate.
“At the nursery!” Vic clarifies.
“Ooh. The nursery.” Jack echos. “Can we see your handy work boss?” He asks.
The ongoing decoration of the nursery had been a frequent topic of conversation at the Station as Maya vented her frustrations about Carina’s indecision on design and furniture choices.
“I mean, yeah sure. Go ahead.” Maya concedes as she continues with the pancakes.
Vic skips out of the kitchen, and grabs Jack’s arm as they head eagerly to check out the nursery. She waves her hand at Lucy to follow them and Ben and Travis move to the doorway of the nursery to join the others. Maya deposits the last of the pancakes onto the plate and puts it on the table as she walks past. She stands in the doorway and watches and Vic and Travis coo over the details in the baby’s room.
“It’s so weird that this was my room once.” Vic says, “I mean, look at this wallpaper - it’s too goddamn cute.” She says as she runs her hand over the wood panelling that sits under the wallpaper. The paper itself is woodland themed, with flora and small bunnies and flowers in a sage green shade. It had taken them weeks to agree on a colour palette and then a wallpaper. Finally settling on this one as it was gender neutral and natural, which were the tones they were going for.
“This room has seen so many people come and go.” Maya agrees. She rubs the back of her neck and asks self consciously, “does it look okay?”
“Are you kidding?” Vic asks with wide eyes. “It’s perfect, this baby is so lucky. The room is beautiful.” She adds and the rest of the team echo her sentiments, offering reassurance and pats to the shoulder.
“Thanks. I don’t think they’ll be using it for a while. But I wanted them to have a space that’s their own.” She shrugs with a small smile.
Jack spots the car seat in the corner, with other baby items still to be organised piled up on top of it. He smirks. “Do you need your car seat installing?”
Maya rolls her eyes and punches him in the arm. “You do realise that I’m a fire captain? No car seat help required. Thank you very much.” She assures him good naturedly.
They all head back through to the kitchen “I just need to cook the eggs.” Maya tells them. “But start on the pancakes and pastries.” As she starts cracking eggs into a skillet.
The food is laid out buffet style, and they eat it as such, loading up plates and perching around the kitchen on stools and Jack remains standing, arguing with Ben about who’d be the most reliable to install a car seat.
Lucy asks Maya if she can help with anything, which Maya declines, encouraging the probie to relax. She finishes dishing the eggs onto a platter and adds the bacon that had been keeping warm in the oven and the platter joins the rest of the food on the table. Maya adds a few bits of food to a plate for herself and drags a stool over to sit on. “You’ve a lovely home Captain.” Lucy tells her as she sits.
“Thanks, and it’s Maya off shift.” She reminds the new recruit.
“Do you think you guys will move?” Travis asks from where he’s topping up everyone’s Bloody Mary’s with Vic’s most recent mix.
Maya shrugs. “Not for a while, not really any need while the baby is small and we like it here.” She explains. “I have thought about it, maybe when they’re a bit older and need some more space to run around.” She adds.
“Or when you have another.” Ben throws out and Maya’s face pales.
“Let us have this baby first!” She exclaims with wide eyes. “And whatever you do, don’t make that comment in front of my Wife! I’ll end up with five kids.” She exclaims to laughter from the group.
Lucy looks at the Captain sheepishly, before quietly asking, “can I ask a personal question?”
Maya shrugs, “you can ask, I don’t know if I’ll have the answer.” But smiles as she says it so the probie knows she is able to ask.
“You totally don’t have to answer, and I don’t even know if it’s appropriate to ask, but how did you decide who would carry between you and your wife?” Lucy asks in a rush.
The others all turn to listen in as they hear the question. In various states of curiosity, and some of them already knowing the answer.
“Carina really wanted to, and I’m not sure I do. At least not right now. So that wasn’t ever really a complicated decision at least this time around.” Maya explains openly. Lucy nods in understanding.
Maya notices that everyone's curiosity seems piqued now and sure enough a few seconds later, Travis asks, “what happens with the birth certificate? I’m just wondering, as it’s been a while since I looked into it. Michael and I considered our options a long time ago, and back then it was super complicated.”
Maya sees Vic squeeze his hand in reassurance and tells him. “In Seattle it’s fine, I automatically go on the birth certificate since they updated the law.”
“No legal paperwork required?” Travis asks.
Maya shakes her head. “Nope, because we’re married and underwent fertility treatment, then I automatically go on the birth certificate here in Seattle.” She explains.
“Oh thank God.” Travis exclaims.
“That wasn’t the case before?” Lucy asks, genuinely curious?
“No, it’s a recent policy change. And we may have to consider our options for travel to other states, and even Italy.” Maya sighs. “But I’m pleased my name will go on the birth certificate without needing to jump through bureaucratic bullshit at least.”
“I suppose having an anonymous donor helps in that regard?” Vic adds, contemplatively.
Maya shakes her head. “We used a known donor, actually.” Maya says as she takes a big drink of her cocktail.
“You did?” Jack asks, and Maya notices he, Travis and Ben all look between one another curiously.
She rolls her eyes, gestures to Vic for a top up, who eagerly obliges, then adds, “No one you boys know, you can relax!”
Jack chokes on the beer he was taking a drink out of. “You what?”
Maya laughs, pulling apart a piece of bacon. “I saw that look you all just gave each other, wondering if it was one of you. It’s not.”
“Who is it?” Jack asks, no preamble.
“No one you know. And we agreed, Carina and I, that actually, that’s our baby’s story to tell.” She explains.
Vic brings over a freshly mixed pitcher and starts topping up drinks, she turns to Maya as she does. “I thought you were going anonymous?”
“We were,” Maya nods. “But we thought about it for a long while and we had a friend that had kindly offered, and when we sat and considered it, we decided that it would work for us, having access to that information. Don’t get me wrong, an anonymous donor would have been fine, but we just felt like this offers us some more control of the narrative.” Maya tries to explain.
“Wow.” Lucy sighs. “It sounds complicated.”
Maya nods. “Everyone’s choice is different, we didn’t consider asking any of you guys,” she glances around her at the men in the room, “because you’re too close. We see you every day and that’s hard to compartmentalise. But we have this friend, who is a great guy, we love him, but we won’t see him every day. The balance will be maintained by that distance. And he had to trust that of us too. He doesn’t want a child, he likes his lifestyle. We had to trust him to respect our boundaries as the parents, and he had to trust us that we wouldn’t expect more of him than him wanting to know the baby was safe and well and that we are all happy together.” Maya explains in a long ramble. She takes a breath. “No one way is right or wrong or better or worse. “Our donor is a friend who is sporadically in our lives. Our baby will always know they have a donor, and who that is but they’ll be known as our good friend who gave us a really amazing gift that allowed us to have our family. You guys will be our kids' family, always. There was no need to blur that boundary for us. No shade to any of you boys, I promise.”
Jack sits quietly in thought, Ben nods emphatically in understanding. “That’s a good man that you’ve chosen. I’m really pleased you found someone that could fulfil your needs that way.” He says with a reassuring smile.
“But we’re not allowed to know who?” Jack asks, and Travis shoots him a glare.
Maya shakes her head. “It’s no one you know, a friend of mine and Carina’s. It’s not a secret, but it’s also the baby’s information, their story to know first and foremost, and theirs to share as and when they’re ready.” Maya shrugs, unable to explain it any better than that.
“Huh.” Jack huffs out on a sigh.
“Oh come on, dude. Are you seriously pissed they didn’t ask you?” Vic exclaims, clipping him round the ear fondly.
“No! No! It’s not that!” Jack exclaims. “I just hadn’t really considered all of these factors if I’m honest. I was pretty ignorant. You guys have been through a lot, considered a lot, to get here.” He says with a smile aimed at Maya.
“We have and it’s a little overwhelming sometimes.” Maya admits, honestly. “But when I feel them kick, or I look at those pictures,” she nods towards the ultrasound pictures, “I know that baby is mine and Carina’s no matter what. None of the rest matters.” She says with a smile on her face. “I can’t wait to meet them, and see how much like their Mama they are. That’s everything I want.” She gushes, forgetting her audience and being more vulnerable than she ever normally would be.
Coming back to herself she shrugs her shoulders to rid herself of public sentimentality. But before she can fully move on, Vic sweeps her up in a hug and whispers in her ear, “I am so proud of you, this baby is so lucky.”
Maya hugs her back for a quick moment, before she pushes her off and reestablishes her equilibrium. Everyone else seems to sense the moment has passed and the conversation turns away from her and onto the intricacies of the call they had before the end of their last shift. Maya lets them talk around her whilst she sits and appreciates this found family of hers. It’s always hard for her to be open and vulnerable, but she wants to be better at it for the sake of her baby. She wants her baby to know that their whole story is only a story to be proud of, and that this found family will know and respect and value their story in whatever capacity they want to share it in. She wants her child to feel loved and safe and protected and knows that they will amongst this ragtag bunch that she calls friends. She pushes down the part of her that wants to respond to vulnerability with a flight response.
She takes a deep breath, a sip of her cocktail; She accepts the hand squeeze from Vic, who seems to know exactly what she’s thinking and turns to tune back into the conversation just as someone says, “So, Jack, I heard you’ve been sleeping with Jo Wilson!”
Fin .