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Maya wasn’t sure how she’d found herself in this situation. This morning she had been fully expecting her monthly meeting with Chief Ross to follow the same pattern as usual: a brief exchange of pleasantries, an update on 19’s response times, addressing any issues within the team that either one of them had identified, and a firm shaking of hands to finish things off. Instead, Maya now found herself being signed up for more bureaucratic nonsense in the spirit of furthering Seattle Fire Department's stellar reputation.
“I’m not saying you have to do it, Captain Bishop,” Chief Ross tilted her head slightly. “I’m just advising you to think of how this could impact the budget that I will be assigning to 19 next week.”
Maya’s jaw clenched as she desperately tried to mask the frustration she could feel bubbling inside her. “That feels like bribery, Chief.”
“Think of it this way,” Chief Ross proposed. “SFD gets good publicity for having the first female Fire Captain who just so happens to be the youngest in our history, and your station lucks out with some extra funding for those improvements you’ve been wanting to make to your resources.”
“And if I say no?” Maya knew deep down that option had never been on the table.
Chief Ross shrugged her shoulders. “Well, I don’t see any issue with you continuing to repair the hoses that you already have, and use the equipment you already have rather than the upgrades you wanted. The data shows that Nineteen is already getting the job done efficiently with the equipment you currently have.”
“Fine.” Maya conceded. “I’ll do it.”
“Excellent news.” A genuine smile spread across Chief Ross’ face as she stood to leave Maya’s office. “I’ll email you the full details when I get back to SFD Headquarters.”
Maya offered a half-smile and a polite nod of the head in acknowledgement.
She was doomed.
—
Arriving at the door of Station Nineteen, Carina took a moment to take in the modern building with its trucks and engines on proud display.
She had heard a lot about the work the station did with the Dean Miller Memorial Clinic and the accessible healthcare it provided to the community, and she was impressed by the various outreach programmes they offered beyond their regular duties. So, she was excited to meet the Captain responsible for it.
Stepping inside, Carina couldn’t help but notice how the place quite literally sparkled around her. She was certain that if she knelt down, she’d be able to see her reflection in the polished tiles of the floor. The place was spotless.
“Hi, I’m Vic Hughes,” a kind-faced firefighter said brightly, drawing Carina’s attention to where she was standing behind the desk. “How can I help you today?”
“Hi, I’m Carina DeLuca,” Carina offered a polite smile. “I have a meeting with Captain Bishop at 11am.”
Vic raised her brow, wondering what a beautiful woman like Carina could possibly have to talk to her Captain about. Unless…
“Can I ask what for?”
“I’m interviewing her,” Carina explained.
“Huh. Not a self-care Wednesday.” Vic muttered under her breath.
Carina hadn’t quite heard what Vic had said, but from the look on her face, she wasn’t sure that was a bad thing. “I have the email confirmation here. The interview request went through Chief Natasha Ross, and she told me I could conduct it here at the station.”
“And you’re interviewing Maya?” Vic reconfirmed. “Captain Maya Bishop?”
Carina nodded. “Yes.”
“Why?” Vic couldn’t hide the bafflement in her voice.
“I work for The Finish Line, a sports magazine, and we’re doing a feature about where some of the female athletes from London 2012 are now, ten years on from the Olympics,” Carina explained, a small smile tugging at the corner of her lips as she thought about some of the incredible athletes they’d been able to secure interviews with.
“And you were the unlucky soul who drew the short straw in interviewing Maya,” Vic spoke the words as if they were fact.
Carina’s brow furrowed. “The short straw?”
“Let’s just say that Maya Bishop is no longer the same baby-faced athlete who used to shy away from attention and barely say boo to a goose.” Vic shrugged her shoulders.
“Why would anyone say boo to a goose?” Despite having lived in Seattle for a few years now, Carina still hadn’t quite wrapped her head around all the American idioms yet.
“Hi, I’m Travis.” Another firefighter interrupted as he entered from the barn. “What Vic means is that Maya isn’t the most… receptive of people when it comes to human interaction, and she’s not exactly the friendliest face around here.”
Before anyone could say anything else, the sound of a door opening and approaching footsteps caught their attention; Vic and Travis shared a slightly panicked look over possibly being overheard.
“Captain Bishop.” Vic stood tall, like a soldier on parade. “Carina DeLuca is here for your 11am appointment.”
The tension could have been cut with a knife. Gone were the friendly faces of the firefighters who had greeted Carina, and instead stood two people who looked like they were scared to breathe wrong.
“My office.” Maya didn’t bother introducing herself or acknowledging the strange display of behaviour. “Now.”
Carina felt a sense of dread settle deep in her stomach as she realised that Vic and Travis may have been correct about their Captain. She assumed that Maya ran a tight ship, but the woman waiting for her in the office seemed… abrupt. Taking a deep breath, she willed her brain to brace for the impact of how terrible this interview was about to be.
“Okay, the short straw here I come.”
—
Maya knew her team still despised her, despite having been the Captain of Station 19 for nearly ten months now. They had made it no secret that they didn’t respect her or her decision-making; all conversations ceased to exist whenever she entered a room. God forbid she tried to reassign chores from the pre-determined rota they had seemingly decided amongst themselves.
Maya had never been a stranger to competition, but she had never expected to compete against the people she once considered her family. They were no longer a collective group. Instead, they were 19 and Captain Bishop. Found family and Maya.
She was completely alone.
Maya busied herself sifting through some paperwork that she had on her desk and assumed that Carina had simply followed her in, as any good member of 19 would. While she’d agreed to do the interview, she had not agreed to sit and bond over a hot beverage while she explained the last ten years to a stranger.
How would she even begin to do that?
“So, how long will this take?” Maya’s voice was polite, albeit abrupt, as she looked at Carina. “I can’t guarantee that the alarm won’t go off and interrupt us, so I don’t want to waste unnecessary time.”
Carina blinked, momentarily frozen as she tried to will herself to respond. She'd never interviewed anybody who was so resistant to the process so early on.
“It shouldn’t take too much of your time. I gather you have all the details of what we’re doing?”
Maya couldn’t help the indignant chuckle that escaped her. “I know your name, that you want to interview me, and that my station’s budget depends on how good a job you do.”
“That’s… not a lot of pressure at all,” Carina half-joked. “I work for The Finish Line, and we’re doing a feature about where some of the top female athletes from London 2012 are ten years on. We want you to be one of our main focuses.”
“Me?” Maya looked up in surprise from the papers she had been shuffling. “Why?”
No one ever wanted her to be the main focus of anything these days.
Her team forgot the meaning of respect when in her presence. Her parents had been no contact for longer than she could remember, and she didn’t even know where her brother was. Chief Ross constantly questioned every decision that she made, making her fight tooth and nail for the things she knew other Captains were getting without a bat of an eyelid. And her friends… Well, she wasn’t even sure she could call anyone a friend these days.
In fact, everybody was trying their hardest to shrink her into a corner, and make her feel like she wasn’t worthy of taking up space. Why would anyone want her to be the centre of attention now?
Carina stepped further into the office, not wanting to have to conduct an interview from the doorway. “Not only did you win an Olympic Gold in one of the top-five quickest times ever recorded by a female athlete, you then went on to begin one of the most illustrious careers of any female firefighter that has passed through the SFD. That’s a big deal.”
“Eyes forward,” Maya muttered.
“What does that mean?” The words would have been lost to the room had Carina not been looking directly at her. “Eyes forward?”
“It means never look back. Only look where you want to be.” Maya tried her best to explain. “It means no distractions or excuses, no diversions or justifications. Second place is just the first loser, and winners don’t take a day off, so you put in the hours and hours of work to be the best of the best. And just when you think you might be there? The goalposts move.”
Carina furrowed her brow, dictaphone in hand, trying to digest everything she’d just heard. “Who taught you that?”
“My old coach,” Maya replied, quickly putting the wall back up that she had let momentarily slip.
“Your old coach as in your papà?” Carina asked.
Maya felt her body tense at the words. “That is what biology would call him, yes.”
“But not you?” Carina didn’t want to push, but she was intrigued.
“Not me in what regard?” Maya questioned, a small furrow settling between her brows.
“Would you not call him that?” Carina tilted her head slightly.
Maya felt the urge to run coursing through her veins, so she made do with pacing back and forth behind her desk. “Is this an interview about him or me?”
“In an interview you did with our magazine back at the time of the games, you spoke about how instrumental he’d been in your career and getting you to the Olympics in the first place.” Carina opened her backpack and pulled out a copy of an interview Maya vaguely remembered giving back then, placing the clipping on Maya’s desk. “I guess I’m just wondering if the sentiments still stand.”
“A lot of time has passed since then,” Maya mused. “Things change. People change.”
“I’m starting to see that,” Although Carina was referring to Maya rather than Lane himself.
“Look,” Maya started. “Lane Bishop was dedicated to his cause. Did he instil a drive in me that no coach would have been able to replicate? Yes. Did he make sure I understood the magnitude of what I was trying to achieve? Definitely. Would I have gotten to the Olympics without him? Maybe not. Did he win that Gold medal for me? Absolutely not.”
Carina could practically see Maya bristling as she spoke, and she could tell there were many things that were being left unsaid. She was also aware that there was a small crowd forming outside of Maya’s office door, a fact that hadn’t seemed to escape Maya’s attention if the sudden stoicism that overtook her was anything to go by.
“Can I make a suggestion?” Carina spoke with caution.
“Depends what it is.” Maya barely looked up from where she had once again busied herself with looking through some reports on her desk.
“Can we do this another time on more… neutral ground?” Carina suggested, looking around the office briefly. “Somewhere we don’t have to worry about any impending alarms or… lingering bodies. A place where you can speak freely as Maya Bishop and not as the Captain of Station 19.”
Maya paused for a moment, slightly taken aback that Carina had seemingly deduced a lot from her body language and the few words she’d offered. “I’m off tomorrow. I do my workout in the early morning, but I can meet you at 12pm at the coffee cart near Jefferson Park, and we can go for a walk?”
“Perfetto.” Carina smiled as she jotted the details down in her little notebook. “But I’ll bring the coffee.”
“Let me guess… It’s not up to your standard?” Maya joked lightly.
Carina grimaced. “I don’t know how it’s up to anyone’s standard.”
Almost as if fate had wanted to prove a point, the klaxon went off, alerting them to a 3-alarm fire across town that everyone’s attendance would be needed at. Maya quickly waved at Carina before rushing off to join her team, and Carina could do nothing but watch. She had been curious about Maya before today, but after their interaction, she felt her intrigue growing further. If she just figured out how to keep her talking, she'd be publishing gold dust.
—
Carina arrived at Jefferson Park at 11:45am, and was not surprised to see that Maya had also decided to show up early. She was sitting on a bench, her posture a lot more relaxed than it had been at the station, but she still sat tall, no slouch present, a lasting nod to her athletic physique. Dressed in jeans and a black and white letterman jacket, her hair fell in gentle waves around her shoulders, and Carina almost had to do a double take to make sure it was, in fact, the Maya that she was meant to be meeting.
“Hi.” Maya offered her a small smile as she stood from the bench and made her way over to Carina. “I guess I’m not the only one who likes to be early to things, huh?”
Carina was momentarily taken aback by Maya’s joke. She already seemed more willing to talk than she had the previous day. “It’s a habit at this point. I don’t like to keep people waiting, and I think it looks unprofessional if I turn up to an interview after the person I’m meant to be meeting.”
“I promise not to report you for being a whole two minutes later than me,” Maya smirked.
“Oh, Maya Bishop has jokes, huh?” Carina quirked a brow, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips.
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Maya teased.
“I would actually.” Carina quipped. “I may just add it to my list of questions I have for you.”
Maya laughed, taken aback by the ease that had unfolded between them. There was something about Carina that made Maya feel safe to lower some of her walls, and as terrifying as that was, she found herself not wanting to fight it.
“Here’s the coffee I promised you.” Carina interrupted Maya’s train of thought, holding out a takeout cup with a logo on it that Maya recognised from near the station. “It’s from the only place in Seattle that I trust not to burn the coffee beans, and once you taste it, you’ll be converted for life.”
“That’s a lot of pressure to put on one cup of coffee.” Maya chuckled.
Carina smirked. “I have no doubt it’ll live up to expectations.”
Maya took a sip, desperately trying to hold back the moan that wanted to escape at the taste of the drink. “Okay, yeah. That’s good. That’s really good.”
“I told you.” Carina shimmied her shoulders slightly. “Now, we have good coffee, and the weather is the nicest it’s been in days, so let’s walk and talk?”
“Sure.” Maya began to lead them across the park, taking a path that she knew was usually empty except for the occasional runner.
—
Maya was surprised at just how natural it felt to talk to Carina, and how much she made the interview feel like a generic conversation. There were still some things that she wasn’t willing to divulge, but she was definitely a lot more receptive than she had been in her office.
They spoke about what life had looked like for Maya since the Olympics, and her progression through the academy to become the Captain of Station 19. Some questions were easier than others, but Maya found herself more willing to answer than she had originally thought she would be.
“Okay,” Carina’s voice brought Maya’s attention back to the conversation. “If you could go back, would you change anything about what happened back in London?”
“It’s hard to say,” Maya sighed.
“Running on a sprained ankle ended my competitive career. It overshadowed everything I'd spent my life working on. But… if I hadn't run, I wouldn't have gotten my gold medal. And that moment, despite everything, meant so much to me,” Maya said slowly. “I mean, if I hadn’t gotten injured, I don’t know if I’d be a firefighter either. I think there’s a very good chance I would have still been running laps around a track, and it’s difficult to think about not being where I am today. It hasn’t been easy, but I love the job that I have now.”
Carina hummed lightly, growing more surprised at just how forthcoming Maya was being with her words. “What made you decide to become a firefighter if it wasn’t something that was already in your plans?”
Maya smiled at the memory that flashed through her mind. “I was out running one day, and then I heard the most blood-curdling scream. I looked across the road and saw a woman whose house was on fire frantically begging someone to go in and save her daughter. She was four and couldn’t see through all the smoke to find her way to the front door. I knew the fire department had been called, but there was no way that the little girl would have survived waiting until they turned up, so I went in and got her.”
“You ran into a burning building with no protection?” Carina quirked her brow.
“Yes.” Maya nodded. “No one else was going to save her, so I had to. And I did. Station 19 responded to the call, and Captain Herrera gave me the biggest telling off I'd ever received before saying that he thought I’d be an asset to the fire department,” Maya said, a hint of pride creeping into her voice. “I remember looking around at the chaos that was unfolding and wondering what it would be like to be involved in it all. I was left with this feeling of wanting more, of being able to say that I had helped people. The house didn’t survive, but the little girl did. I went to Station 19 the next day and told Captain Herrera that I wanted to be a part of his team.”
Carina couldn’t quite fathom what she’d just heard, and she was a little bit in awe of the woman beside her. “That’s incredible, Maya. You’re literally a real-life hero.”
“The things I achieve are only possible because of my team.” Maya shrugged the compliment off. “Without them, things would not end half as well as they do. A Captain is only as good as the team behind her.”
Carina realised in that moment just how wrong she’d been about Maya, and how wrong her team were about her too. It was clear as day that while she was determined, perhaps to a fault at times, she only had everyone else’s best interests at heart. Maya cared about her job and her people, and it was evident that she would do anything for them.
“What’s one change you want to make within the SFD?” Carina decided to move the interview along, sensing Maya wasn’t one for compliments.
“I want there to be more opportunities for other women to get into firefighting, and to have positions of responsibility.” Maya practically lit up as she spoke. “I didn’t know about the careers that were possible within the fire department until I joined, so I want to look at creating more outreach programmes that allow young girls to see what they can achieve with us too.”
“That’s remarkable, Maya. So many people will benefit from that, and I think if anyone can make it happen, you can.” Carina smiled. “Okay, last question.”
Maya’s head snapped to the side with comical speed. “Already?”
“I told you that neutral ground would make this easier,” Carina smirked.
“I guess you were right.” Maya mused.
“I usually am.” Carina’s smirk grew impossibly wider. “Now, what’s one thing you want people to know about you?”
Maya paused to think for a moment. “That I’m human.”
Her voice had barely been above a whisper, but Carina had still heard her. “What do you mean by that?”
“I think it’s easy to look at me and to think I’ve done all the things and made it to all the places, but no one will ever truly understand the journey that I’ve been on.” Maya sighed. “They don’t see the countless hours that I have dedicated to making myself the best I can be. They haven’t seen the sleepless nights spent studying or the hours I’ve spent researching how to make things more efficient and practical for everyone involved. I’ve made my mistakes, and I’ve unintentionally hurt people, my people, but at the end of the day, I’m just a human too.”
“I think you’re a pretty remarkable human, Maya Bishop.” Carina smiled as she clicked her dictaphone off. “There’s a lot more to you than meets the eye.”
Maya felt a blush rising on her cheeks, and she looked to the floor to try to hide it. “Thanks, I guess. I hope you got everything you need for your piece.”
“I’m sure I did,” Carina said. “Can- Can I ask you a question not related to the interview?”
“Sure.” Maya’s brow furrowed slightly.
“Can I call you sometime?” Carina nervously bit her lip.
Maya stopped walking and turned to face Carina. “Why? Do you need to interview me more? I thought you said you had what you needed?”
“I do,” Carina chuckled lightly at Maya’s clear surprise. “But can I call you anyway?”
Maya noticed the smirk pulling at the corner of Carina’s lips. “Yeah, I think I’d like that.”