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They lay in bed facing each other, Carina mostly turned on her stomach, her left arm wrapped under the pillow with her head towards the blonde, while Maya lay completely on her side facing her. The sheets wrapped around both of their waists, leaving their upper body exposed as Maya’s hand traced gentle patterns on her wife’s bare back, a sign that she was conscious despite not having opened her eyes yet.
Both were aware that the other one was awake but too immersed in the peacefulness of the moment to be the first one to make a movement or a sound.
Through the opened French door to the balcony, the sound of waves hitting the rocks down below and the soft melody of the birds chirping told Carina that today would be a beautiful day. It was just like she always remembered it to be, the gorgeous summer days of the coast of Italy that she dreamed about during the cold winters of Seattle. She could feel the air warming up already, the sun shining brightly through the white curtains of the window facing her.
Time stood still.
The doctor couldn’t help but smile as she eyed her wife who, despite having her eyes still shut, suddenly sighed contentedly.
If Carina was to be asked what her perfect morning would look like, it would be exactly this moment. A late morning in bed with her wife looking so beautiful, lying naked in front of her, the mere sight of her arousing to a fault.
It was a long time ago that the couple had taken their first vacation together.
The woman in front of her so different and yet the same.
No one ever really understood all the layers of Maya Bishop; it was something that the brunette had realized very early on in their relationship. Maya’s mind could be complicated, but to her, it had never been too foreign, it had never scared her away.
With time; each kiss, each touch, each conversation, and each night or morning that they spent together had brought down the bricks that were built around the blonde’s heart. Underneath a façade of toughness, Carina had had the chance to see a version of the firefighter that others didn’t bother to look for or took for granted.
There had been a time when Maya would have needed to be persuaded to truly enjoy a vacation and time off work. A time when Carina would catch her relentlessly playing with her phone anytime she came back from the bathroom.
This time however, ever since they had landed in Italy a few days ago, Maya’s phone had been lost in the bottom of the backpack that she had carried with her on the plane and never taken out.
It was almost impossible to describe how peaceful her wife looked, with her hair sprawled around her head on the pillow, a fresh bruise adoring her neck, and her nose and forehead slightly red from the days spent under the summer sun of Carina’s native country.
There was no anxiety over leaving someone else in charge of the station, no check-ups on her coworkers, and no dramatic texts from Victoria or Jack. Both of them had no idea what was currently happening in Seattle, and they couldn’t care less. It felt freeing.
Seeing her wife like this was a blessing.
Gently, Carina brought her free hand to Maya’s face, tracing her cheekbone with her index finger, before doing the same with her eyebrows, her jawline, and her chin. She watched as a soft smile spread on her wife’s lips, and then, eyelids fluttered as she blinked for the first time that morning, ocean blue pools staring right back at the brunette.
“Good morning,” Maya whispered, raising a surprised eyebrow at how raspy her voice sounded.
A small chuckle stumbled out of Carina’s lips, the brunette’s thoughts immediately wandering to last night.
--
Carina knew that Maya could sing. It was something that the blonde kept hidden from everyone, but the brunette had caught her plenty of times humming to herself as she cleaned the apartment, until it evolved to catching her belting a song in the shower.
It was why, on their wedding day, she had been in no way surprised to find Maya singing to herself at the kitchen table as she folded napkins for their big day.
It was still one of her favorite moments from that day, how giddy and excited the blonde had been for what was to come.
However, she never imagined that Maya DeLuca-Bishop would be the one to grab her by the hand and drag her to a bar that had a sign displaying “Karaoke” on the sidewalk.
Of course, the blonde would do something like this on a night that Carina had left her cell phone at their rented villa and where no one had even a slight idea of who both were.
It’s true that the three and a half glasses of wine that the firefighter had during dinner had definitively played a role in that decision, but as Carina sat on a stool by the bar and watched Maya sing the lyrics to Put Your Records On, she could only count the number of times that she had felt happier in her life on the fingers of one hand.
And when she finished, through the small crowd of few other tourists and natives, Carina clapped and whistled the loudest of them all as Maya ignored everyone else, her eyes looking straight at her wife, a big smile plastered on her lips before she jokingly bowed and blew a kiss her way.
The blonde got down from the small stage, accepting a high-five from another American at a table on her way back to the bar, where she found Carina, looking at her behind the rim of her glass of wine that she held to her lips.
“How was I?” Maya asked, “Better than all of them, right?”
Maya’s competitive nature would never be a surprise.
Carina laughed, depositing her drink on the bar top to her right before taking the small step that still separated them so she could wrap her arm around her wife’s shoulders.
Maya accepted the chaste kiss that Carina gave her, her hand setting dangerously low on her wife’s back. It was hard to tell if Maya's cheeks were only red from the sun or the few drinks she had had that night.
“The best, bambina. But now, I need you to do one thing.”
Carina smirked as she turned around and grabbed Maya’s whiskey glass from where it had been left beside her own drink. She handed it to the blonde, before coming back closer again, and leaning her head in so she could whisper in her ear.
“I need you to finish this drink now so I can take you home and do unspeakable things to you. Can you do that for me, amore mio?”
Carina leaned back just in time to see her wife’s eyes grow a slight bit darker before she gulped down the rest of her drink in one go.
Maya hurryingly grabbed her wallet from the back pocket of her jeans before taking the first couple bills that she found and setting them on the bar top. It was impossible for the doctor not to laugh at her wife's hurried actions which caused Maya to pout until Carina gave her another brief kiss and grabbed her hand to head for the exit.
They were out of there before the next brave soul had even gotten to the chorus of their song.
There was something impossibly attractive about a carefree Maya Bishop.
--
“Buongiorno, bambina,”
Without ever taking her eyes off Carina’s, Maya’s hand drifted to her front, tracing the bones of the brunette’s collarbone and a particularly purple bruise that was forming there, before letting her finger drift down the valley between her breasts, and finally resting her hand on her ribcage.
“How did you sleep?” Maya asked, before softly cupping Carina’s left breast and letting her thumb brush the nipple there.
“Mhmm, good, what about you?”
“Fantastic, this bed is amazing actually, we need to ask Francesco where he got it.”
Of course, only Maya Bishop would mention the villa’s owner in a situation like this.
“The bed, eh?” Carina chuckled before it was abruptly stopped as a moan escaped her lips, caused by the blonde gently tugging at her nipple with her thumb and index finger.
It was Maya’s turn to laugh.
Just as Carina thought that her wife would lean forward and kiss her, the blonde suddenly took her hand away.
The Italian was just about to complain when her wife turned on her back to stretch her arms above her head, making it impossible for Carina’s eyes not to wander to her wife’s naked chest and the tiny bruises that had formed on her breasts - a souvenir from Carina’s mouth the night before.
“Bambina,” Carina whined, before shifting to her elbows so she could hover over her wife’s body.
Incapable of stopping herself, she brought her lips to Maya’s neck, leaving a trail of gentle slow kisses down the column of her neck to her collarbone as the blonde hummed contentedly, the only sign that Carina needed to continue her journey south.
They didn’t know what time it was, but all that mattered was them and this moment, the peacefulness of having the opportunity to come as one, over and over again, and to bath in each other’s presence away from all the noise and chaos that surrounded them in Seattle even when they tried not to be involved.
There had been a time when Carina didn’t know if she would get to see the version of Maya that she had married again. A time when the shine in her wife’s eyes was gone, when the blonde felt a thousand miles away even as she lay right next to her in bed, and when the fear of Maya not coming home grew tremendously with each passing day.
But to be here now, in Italy, and to see a version of Maya that was so free, happy, and fulfilled was almost too incredible to explain. Maya had fully embraced the famous Italian saying, “Il dolce far niente”, something that would have been impossible if only a year prior.
“Mhmm, Carina,” Maya moaned as the brunette’s lips wrapped around a pink nipple, the firefighter’s nails digging into Carina’s shoulders.
“Si?” Carina whispered, her lips brushing Maya’s skin as she spoke.
She trailed kisses to Maya’s other breast, bringing her hand to the one that she had just separated herself from, wanting to keep stimulating both regions at the same time.
“I love you,”
Letting go of the nipple that she had in her mouth, Carina raised her head, finding blue pools staring right back at her.
“I love you too,” Carina signed, the look in her wife’s eyes making her heart grow tenfold if it was possible.
During all the darkness that they had endured, there was never a moment in which Carina doubted her love for her wife. It was as clear as the sky being blue; Maya was the love of her life, and nothing would or could ever change that.
But for both, sometimes, even in the most peaceful and blissful moments like this, the gratefulness of having found their way back to each other was too intense to contain.
They had almost lost each other.
The tears flew easier now, their conversations were deeper and their understanding of each other was greater than what it had previously been.
It was a constant work in progress, but Maya’s dedication to being open with Carina, to being vulnerable and letting her in all the way, even when it was painful or scary, had brought serenity to their relationship that they never had before.
Carina knew that as much as she had been hurt by her wife’s actions, there had also been a moment in time when Maya had truly believed that Carina may not come back to her.
The doctor had been guarded at first, looking for proof that Maya wouldn’t go back to her old ways, wouldn’t hurt herself or hurt her the way that she had before, and she knew that for her wife, that period of time hadn’t been easy. For Carina, it had been incredibly difficult to balance her want for Maya, and the boundaries that she tried to keep. To keep her wife at a distance while also wanting nothing more than to come home. The unfortunate mixed signals even confusing her at times.
The brunette didn’t blame herself; she knew that leaving had been the right choice for both Maya and her. The relationship that they had rebuilt since was stronger than it had ever been before. The slow steps they had taken together, like going on dates and spending quality time together, had created a routine that they hadn't separated themselves from even now. Even though, after their first meeting at Joe's, they hadn't gone back there in years until their second-first date, they now took the time to visit the bar more often. They scheduled time to go to the restaurant, to enjoy each other's presence while doing activities, something that had been neglected in the past due to many factors.
But Carina understood Maya.
Sometimes, she felt the same fear, a fear rooted in the “too good to be true”, that any second now, they would wake up and find themselves separated again, respectively staying in an empty apartment and a rented hotel room, places where they had both spent countless nights aching for the other from afar.
Often, Carina caught Maya just staring at her, a small smile on her face, her eyes shining as bright as the stars in the night sky… It was overwhelming at times but in the best way possible.
“Come here,” Maya said, her hands grabbing at Carina’s shoulders to try to pull her up.
Carina didn’t have to ask for an explanation to know what her wife wanted.
Shifting so her lower body lay between the blonde’s opened legs, she rested her weight on her elbows just above the blonde’s shoulders. Maya’s arms instinctively wrapped around her waist, holding her close, not an inch of free space between them.
It made it impossible for either of them to contain the moans that stumbled out of their lips as their nipples brushed against each other.
Two bodies like puzzle pieces, made for each other.
Their lips found each other’s, tongues intertwining and recreating a well-learned dance as Maya’s hands drifted to Carina’s ass, urging her to press up even more against the blonde if it was possible.
The Italian always thought that describing fireworks going off when you kissed someone was childish, but there was something to say about kissing the love of your life. Sure, sex was great, especially with Maya, but even now, she would have been content to just lay underneath the sheets and make out with her wife for as long as humanly possible.
Her wife was alive and here with her. She was healthy, an evolved version of herself, and there was something so addicting to touching Maya now that Carina could barely stop.
She felt like a teenager again, her hormones practically out of control as her love for the blonde could not be contained.
They were finally realizing their dreams of a honeymoon in Italy. A trip planned entirely by the blonde and it was everything that Carina had ever dreamed of.
It was the time off that they had deserved years ago, when instead of being able to bask in the joy of being newlyweds, Maya had learned that she had been demoted. Even though they couldn’t have gone on a trip then because of the pandemic, the situation had essentially been a needle bursting the bubble of happiness that they had hoped to live.
A demotion that had then caused a downward spiral for the blonde that had lasted for over a year.
It seemed too simple to say that now it was all behind them, too easy to call it a mere huddle in the road when the pain and heartache had been so grand and had cost them so much.
But to say that now, Carina didn’t take anything for granted, was the truth and she knew that Maya felt similarly. There was so much time that they had spent apart to catch up on, a craving for an intimacy that had been lost.
And there was something about the way that Maya looked at her now, a look in her eyes that could not be described properly with words. A tenderness and love that gave Carina goosebumps.
She hoped that her memory of this vacation, of this time alone, would stay forever engraved in her brain and that even when they grew old and grey together, she’d still remember their first time in Italy like it was yesterday.
As they kissed, Carina couldn’t help but roll her hips into her wife’s, pulling out a moan from the blonde as her mouth dropped open. Carina shifted her attention, bringing her lips to her wife’s jaw as she pulled herself up a bit to let her hand wander between them. The brunette cupped Maya's breast, firmly squeezing the flesh and pulling another moan from her throat before her wife's hand grabbed the back of her neck to pull their lips back together.
To stay like this forever… that was the dream.
--
There was one other thing that Carina missed the most about Italy when she was in Seattle.
Even as a little girl, it was something that she adored.
Her mother was the kind of person who, when she planned a trip to the beach, would not leave until the sun had set beyond the horizon. Vincenzo rarely accompanied them on those outings, but Lucia always made sure to bring enough food to last the entire day, and by the time the sky turned orange, Andrea and Carina would be wrapped in towels by her side and they would watch the sun go down together.
Back then, Andrea was young enough that after spending all of his energy running around the entire day, he would be almost fast asleep by that time, but Carina was older and just like it was one of Lucia's favorite things about the beach, it became hers too.
Tonight, on their last full day in Italy, the sunset was astonishingly beautiful. The shades of orange mixed with the clouds on the horizon as the big ball of red slowly became hidden.
Carina had ventured out of the villa alone while her wife finished packing her suitcase for their flight the next day and too lost in her thoughts, she hadn’t heard Maya approach from behind her until arms wrapped around her waist and the blonde's chin rested on her shoulder. Instinctively, the brunette hands came to rest on the blonde's on her stomach as she hummed contentedly.
"It's beautiful," Maya said.
"Mhm, it is. Can we stay a little longer?"
"Of course,"
Carina turned as Maya let go of her, just in time to see the blonde sitting down in the sand and patting the spot between her legs in front of her. As Carina got settled, leaning against her wife's body, she rested the back of her head on her shoulder before looking up at the horizon again.
"I thought it would be harder, to be in Italy now."
"What do you mean?"
"My mom loved sunsets... it was her favorite thing about bringing us to the beach when we were kids and Andrea... he could build sand castles for hours on end. He loved it." Carina sighed. "I thought it would be harder, to be here. The last time... spreading his ashes..."
"I wish I could have been there," Maya said.
"I know," Carina replied, her hand squeezing the arm that Maya had wrapped around her waist again. "I thought it would be as hard this time around but, I'm leaving with better memories."
Carina felt Maya's lips on her temple.
"I wish we could stay here forever..."
It could have almost been surprising, to hear Maya say that she wasn't eager to go back to work, that she didn't have an entire workout routine already planned to get back in shape from the week that she had spent relaxing but... it wasn't.
"How old do babies have to be to fly on an airplane?" Maya asked.
Carina arched her eyebrows in surprise, turning her head around to look at Maya who suddenly seemed to realize that the question had stumbled out of her lips.
"I mean... I want to bring our kids here, as soon as possible. When... when we have kids, I want to bring them here. They should experience this. They have to experience this." Maya stuttered out.
It wasn't the first time that children had been mentioned since they had found their way back to each other but every time, one of them found themselves stuttering their way through it, nervous to have said the wrong thing or assumed something that maybe wasn't on the other's mind anymore.
"Bambina..." Carina sighed, an overwhelming urge to kiss her wife senseless taking over.
Without separating their lips, the brunette fully turned around, her weight on Maya making the blonde fall onto her back in the sand which essentially separated them, but the firefighter was quick to tilt her head again, capturing Carina's lips in a delicate kiss, one that lasted until they ran out of air. When their lips parted, Carina leaned her head back to look at her wife, bringing her hand up to brush blonde strands away from her face.
"I- I still want your babies, Maya. If that's something that you want, it doesn't have to be next week or even next month but... I want a family with you and just like you said, I want them to experience this. This is so important to me, to have you say that is- ugh..." Carina struggled to find the words.
"I want it, Carina. There's nothing I want more than a family with you." Maya said, bringing her hands up to her wife's face, her thumb brushing against the brunette's cheekbone.
It was impossible for Carina's smile not to grow as wide as possible as happiness welled up inside of her and for Maya to reciprocate the same. The doctor turned her head, kissing the palm of the blonde's hand that had been on her cheek.
"I love you," the brunette sighed as unexpected tears welled up in her eyes.
"I love you too... so much."
They stayed at the beach until the sun had completely disappeared, wrapped in each other’s arms, enjoying the last moment of their trip and Carina couldn’t help but imagine their next visit.
Those images included a bundle of a joy laying on her chest with Maya’s arms still wrapped tightly around her.