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Carina had spent the last 10 minutes pacing the lengths of the beanery, she’d tried everything. Butter, oil, soap, water. She’d tried ice and holding her finger above her head but nothing seemed to be working, the ring didn’t seem to budge, there was one things he hadn’t tried, one thing she hadn’t wanted to try because the thought of it broke her heart into 10,000 tiny pieces.
That was how Sullivan found her, the barn was empty as 19 were out attending a late night road traffic accident, the clock was nearing 10pm and with no sign of the team Carina seemed to be getting more agitated and frustrated but mostly claustrophobic with the gold band tightening by the second
“Carina?” Robert asked as he saw the brunette pacing frantically in the beanery
“Oh hi” he smiled weakly and quickly before returning to her pacing
“What are you doing?” Robert asked with caution not looking to be shouted at by the Italian
“Looking for a firefighter” she replied as she continued to pull at her ring finger with no such luck
“Good job you’re in the right place then” he joked his tone and miss timed sense of humour stopping the Italian in her tracks
“Don’t” she silenced him holding up her hand to reiterate her point
“Sorry, what’s wrong is it the babies?” he asked quickly wondering if he needed to get Maya back from the call they were attending
“No they’re fine it’s me” Carina replied as the tears that had pooled in her eyes spilt over and ran down her cheeks
“I know we haven’t always had the best relationship but if you want to talk to a someone, even if you just want to shout in Italian and know someone can understand you-“ Robert offered kindly unsure as to what Carina had meant by her comment
“It’s fine Robert, it’s nothing like that” Carina replied with a soft and thankful smile
“Then what is it?” Robert asked knowing that Carina didn’t usually pace like this when Maya was on a call
“My finger” she huffed holding up her ring finger than was severely swollen with her wedding ring stuck
“Your-? Oh, Andy’s did the same thing” he chuckled walking tentatively to the Italian to inspect it further
“I can’t get it off and it’s starting to make me feel a little claustrophobic” Carina replied, her ring in general didn’t make her feel like that, she loved her wedding ring and her wife and deep down she loved what it stood for or more what she and Maya stood for but right now it was crushing her finger and she needed it off
“Come with me, I know just the trick” Roberts smiled signalling for Carina to follow him into the barn
“You can’t cut it” she replied defensively she’d rather have the ring cut off her circulation that break it
“I’m not going to cut it”
“And you can’t cover it in butter or oil” she added “…I’ve already tried it doesn’t work”
“I need to use some oil Carina, but I promise I won’t break it” Robert smiled grabbing the olive oil from the kitchen and leading the Italian to the barn
Carina followed Robert into the barn quickly taking a much needed seat as her right hand instantly came to rub at her belly and she continued to hold back the tears that threatened to spill from her eyes
“So how’s the pregnancy going?” Robert asked making conversation as he sat down on the opposite side of the table and took Carina’s hand in his own to closer inspect the ring and swelling
“Don’t act like you care” Carina replied curtly
“Carina, I care” he replied sighed softly
“Sorry, hormones” she replied quickly using her free hand to fan at her eyes to stop the burning tears from falling
“Hmmhmm”
“What are you doing?“ Carina asked
“Getting your ring off” Robert replied with a furrowed brow as he began to wrap a piece of string tightly around her finger
“Yes I’d worked that out I mean how?” Carina replied rolling her eyes
“With string” he replied shrugging as he continued to wrap the string tight
“Don’t cut it” Carina replied
“Carina I’m not going to cut it, now it might feel a little uncomfortable for a moment or two but it’ll be over before you know it” he smiled
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to wrap this around your finger to squash the swelling and then the ring should slide off” he added softly as she wiggled the ring and managed to get into onto the strings track
“Should?” Carina asked not convinced it would work
“Yes, should” Robert smiled as he continued to twist and pull the ring
“And if it doesn’t” Carina asked
“I’ll have to cut it” Robert sighed hoping for both of their sakes that it wouldn’t come to that
“Okay”
“I think we’re almost there” he smiled as the ring slid onto the string and fell off onto the table “…gotcha” she smiled successfully as he quickly unwrapped the string from the Italians finger
“Grazie” Carina smiled as she wiggled her fingers feeling a sense of freedom not the suffocating band was off her finger
“Prego” he smiled softly passing the ring to the Italian “…do you want me to take you home?” he offered kindly
“No it’s okay, I need to see Maya so I’ll just wait for her” Carina replied running her fingers through her hair with one hand looking down at her ring in the palm of her other feeling a sudden wave of sadness erupt within her as she realised she could no longer wear her wedding ring
She took her ring and headed to Maya’s bunk changing into a pair of sweats and a severely over sized SFD crew shirt before curling up in the bed sobbing into Maya’s pillow over the loss of her wedding band
———
It was close to midnight by the time the team finally returned to the station, all tiredly jumping out of the rigs and aidcar all in search of even just an hours sleep
“Bishop” Robert called after the blonde had finished giving the orders she could realising the time and that her team would benefit from some sleep
“Hello” Maya smiled slightly confused as to why the battalion chief was here since it was no longer his station, close to midnight and Andy was on maternity leave
“Carina’s in your office she’s a little upset” he spoke softly as he got closer to where Maya and Vic were standing
“Oh what did you say to her?” Vic asked, it was no secret the two had a strained relationship for a number of reasons so the first logical conclusion would be that Robert had upset Carina
“I didn’t say anything” the battalion chief replied defensively rolling his eyes at the firefighter
“Sure you didn’t” she chuckled softly along with Maya before disappearing to give the two of them some space to talk privately and finish whatever chores she could before retreating to her own bunk
“I didn’t, I helped her actually” Robert shouted after Vic who just giggled and continued to get on with what she’d been tasked with
“What’s the problem?” Maya asked kindly still looking for answers as to why her wife was at her place of work crying to the man she most disliked
“I think she can explain it better than I can, she’s laying down in your bunk” Robert smiled
“Okay… and you definitely didn’t say anything to her?” Maya asked
“No Bishop, like I said I helped her”
“Okay, I believe you” Maya grinned as she walked off to find Carina and get some answers as to why she was so upset
“Tell me what did you do?” Vic spoke as she poked her head out of the window of the engine startling the battalion chief
“Nothing” Robert replied again “…now are you going to restock the engine, you never know when another call may come in”
“Yes chief” Vic smiled softly “…I will find out how you made Carina cry” she added
“Oh my- I didn’t make her cry” Robert huffed as he walked away to the sound of the other firefighters giggles
Maya quickly made her way to her bunk locking her office door behind her and finding her wife curled up on the bed with a deeply furrowed brow suggesting whatever Carina was dreaming about it wasn’t good
“Carina” Maya whispered softly as she stroked her wife’s face to wake her up and clear the obvious furrow from her brow
“Maya?” Carina asked almost confused as to where she was and how her wife was waking her up
As her eyes fully adjusted to the dim light of the bunk she realised where she was and suddenly her eyes filled with tears at the prospect of not being at home and remembering what brought her to the station in the first place
“Hi, hey, hey, hey what’s wrong? Why are you so upset?” Maya asked as she quickly wrapped her arms around her wife who allowed her to hold her as she sobbed uncontrollably without explanation
“My ring” she replied through the tears as Maya looked down at the empty finger that almost appeared naked without any of the gold rings her wife usually wore
“Your ring?” Maya asked confused as to why her wife was so upset over a ring
“My wedding ring, it doesn’t fit, these stupid babies have made my fingers fat” she huffed hiding her face in Maya’s lap embarrassed by the tears and the hormones
“Where’s your ring now?” Maya asked as she wiped away the tears from her wife’s cheeks
“Here” Carina sighed holding her left hand open to reveal the gold wedding band
“Give me it” Maya held out her own hand to take the ring
“Why?“ Carina sighed
“Just give me your ring” Maya smiled softly waiting for Carina to pass her the ring
“Okay…” she sighed dropping the gold band into the palm of the blondes outstretched hand “…what are you doing?” Carina asked as the blonde got up to walk away
“Just wait, be patient” she smiled as she pulled open the top draw of the small desk/dresser in her bunk and pulled out a silver chain
“I am 7 months pregnant with twins I’m sick of being patient” Carina huffed as she wrapped herself around a pillow to try and get comfortable
Maya thread the ring onto the chain with a small smile on her face when she saw caught her wife grumbling and shifting on the bed clearly uncomfortable as she threw her jumper onto the floor trying to cool down
“Sit up” Maya smiled unlacing her boots and kicking them off
“Maya” Carina groaned not impressed with being asked to move again
“Just listen to me, please” Maya smiled softly popping off her button up leaving her in her crew shirt and work pants
“Fine” Carina mumbled as she sat up and felt Maya climb in behind her
“Hold your hair up” Maya instructed as she laced the necklace around the front of Carina
“What is going-“ Carina whispered sleepily confused as to what Maya was doing
“Stop questioning me, and just listen to me”
“Fine” she huffed lifting up her hair as Maya clipped on the necklace and signalled for her to let her hair fall again
“There, all better” Maya smiled pulling Carina to lay against her chest
“You have a St Christopher?” Carina asked as she inspected the the pendent on the chain
“Yeah, my mom gave me it when I graduated the academy” Maya sighed softly
“I can’t take your St Christopher” Carina replied
“You can, it only sits in a draw and this way I know you have something of mine and you’re still wearing your wedding ring even if it isn’t on your finger” Maya replied as her fingers traced soft patterns along the bump feeling the small kicks against her palms
“I love you” Carina smiled softly taking hold of Maya left hand and placing a soft kiss to her ring finger
“I love you too…” Maya smiled softly kissing the temples of her wife’s head “…now will you let me take you home” she whispered softly in Carina’s ear
“I thought you were working all night no?” Carina asked turning to look at her wife
“I am, but I can spare an hour to take you home” Maya smiled
“I don’t want to leave you” Carina replied her eyes filling again with tears as the hormones got the better of her
“Carina” Maya sighed softly
“Please can I just sleep here” Carina asked a she cuddled closer into her wife and sank into the bed feeling her eyes grow heavy
“All night? You won’t be as comfortable as you would if you were at home” Maya replied
“But here I’ll be with you” Carina yawned curling into Maya
“I can’t guarantee the klaxons won’t go off”
“I know, but until that happens I’ll have you…” Carina replied “…unless you don’t want me to stay, I can go…” Carina replied quickly as her paranoia set in “…I should go you have a job to do I’m being needy and pathetic I’ll see you tomorrow” she added as she went to stand up
“Lay back down Dr DeLuca, and stop doing that” Maya chuckled lightly at her wife’s dramatics and pulled her into her chest
“Doing what?” Carina questioned
“Answering a question for me…” Maya replied “…if you want to stay you can stay, you can stay and sleep for however long you want” she smiled softly laying down with Carina and wrapping herself around the Italian and the bump housing her twins
“I’m so tired” Carina sighed
“Go to sleep” Maya replied craning her neck to press a soft kiss to her wife’s lips “…ti amo”
“Ti amo anch’io bambina” Carina smiled cuddling into her wife and falling asleep