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Maya hadn’t intended to get smoke inhalation, of course she hadn’t. She hadn’t even meant to go into the building, but the fire had grown bigger than they expected and they’d had to call in a second, then a third team, and the battalion chief to coordinate. It had been an all hands on deck situation so Maya had found herself extracting an eight year old boy from the fire - an eight year old boy who was struggling to breathe.
It wasn’t even a question for Maya to give the kid her mask - they weren’t far from an escape point, maybe 30 seconds from clean air.
An exit which, unbeknownst to Maya, had been blocked by a fallen beam. So 30 seconds had turned into 3 minutes of breathing in the smoky air and she’d felt it.
After a trip to the ER, an angry but worried wife, and a very quiet car ride home, Maya is under strict instructions to stay in bed and rest - not from the respiratory specialist she’d seen at the hospital but from her wife.
She knows better than to argue with an Italian.
The only problem is, it’s summer break so all the kids are home, and Carina is in the depths of the process of setting up her own clinic. Maya is so proud of her but it does mean she’s spending a lot of her day closed up in the home office on various zoom calls and therefore her availability to do stuff with the kids is limited.
From her setup in bed, Maya can hear the older two arguing. Gianna is sleeping and Carina is on a call with an important investor so the increasing noise level isn’t ideal.
“Liam! Andrea!” Maya tries to call, except her voice is so damaged from the smoke inhalation that it barely comes out as a croak.
They definitely can’t hear her.
“Liam! Andrea!” she tries again but that’s even worse, sending her into a coughing fit that has her doubled over, gasping for breath.
The arguing is getting louder so Maya determines she has no choice but to get out of bed to sort it out. She swings her legs over the side of the bed, steadying herself before standing up. She takes it slowly out of the bedroom - she might be stubborn, but she’s no longer stupid (usually) and if she triggers another coughing fit Carina will definitely come looking for her and tell her off.
She manages to make it all the way out of the bedroom and to Liam’s bedroom door where she can hear the kids. Just as she pushes open the door she breathes in wrong, something catching at the back of her throat and she can’t stop the coughing from starting.
“Woah, mommy!” Liam gasps, jumping up from the floor and rushing over to Maya. He puts his hand on her back and rubs little concerned circles as Maya continues to cough and try to catch her breath.
“Mamma! Mommy ha una brutta tosse! [Mamma! Mommy has her bad cough!]” he yells at top volume and Maya winces - not just from the pain in her throat.
Sure enough she hears Carina’s hurried footsteps on the stairs just as the coughing fit subsides and she wipes her streaming eyes.
“Bambina! What are you doing out of bed?” Carina asks, her voice scolding but in that soft concerned way that Maya knows is only out of love for her. Liam’s little hand is still on her back, patting gently.
“The kids … arguing,” she croaks. “You working … Gi sleeping.”
Carina sighs and Maya instantly feels bad, hanging her head. “I’m not mad bambina but just text me next time, va bene?”
Maya nods, trying her best to keep taking deep breaths as her chest crackles under her palm.
“Okay, let’s get you back to bed then I’ll speak to these two about the arguing,” Carina says, raising her eyebrows at the kids who both pull some very guilty faces.
She then crouches down, taking Maya’s hands and gently pulling her to her feet, stabilising her with her hands on her hips. The coughing fit and the breathlessness have made her dizzy, and as much as she doesn’t want the kids to see her like this she is very grateful for her wife’s steadying presence.
“Andrea, can you go and see if mommy’s water bottle is full and Liam can you go and see if your sister is still asleep?” Carina asks as she starts to guide Maya out of the room.
Both kids nod and zoom off, Andrea calling out from the bedroom first. “It’s almost empty!”
“Can you go to the bathroom and fill it up please piccola?” Carina asks as she and Maya slowly move across the landing to their bedroom. They hear her run into the en-suite and turn on the tap just as Liam pops his head out of Gianna’s room.
“She’s still sleeping.”
“Grazie orsetto. I’m going to get mommy into bed, can you wait in your bedroom so I can speak to you and Andrea?”
Liam nods so Carina continues into the bedroom, giving the same instruction to Andrea who has filled up Maya’s water bottle. She pulls the sheets back and fluffs up the pillows as Maya sinks into bed, her legs feeling weaker than she’d like them to be.
Her wife tucks the sheets around her gently, kissing her forehead and pressing her water bottle into her hands. “Drink, rest, and let me take care of things.”
Maya nods with a smile, taking a dutiful sip of her water bottle as her wife heads into the kids’ room.
“Mamma! Gianna is crying! And she stinks!”
Maya blinks her eyes open blearily. She hadn’t meant to fall asleep but the smoke inhalation has really taken it out of her.
“Mamma!”
There’s no response from Carina though and Maya sighs (although internally, she’s trying to avoid another coughing fit) and she reaches for her phone. She shoots off a message to her wife but she doesn’t respond, and Liam and Andrea appear in the doorway to her bedroom, now focusing their bombardment of information on her since Carina seems to be tied up in a call.
“Okay, I’m coming,” Maya rasps, slowly getting out of bed and making her way towards the nursery. Her wife is clearly busy and Maya refuses to let their daughter continue to be stinky and sad in the nursery.
“Can you guys help?”
Liam and Andrea give a resounding yes and dash ahead of Maya into the nursery, where Maya finds them leaning through the bars of her crib and chatting away to her, which has reduced her screams to small snuffles.
“Wow, she is … stinky,” Maya rasps, breathless from the walk to the nursery. She leans over, scooping up the six month old and carrying her over to the changing table. Her recent start with solids has meant she’s begun to produce some … interesting smells.
She lays Gianna down on her back and puts her hand on her belly to stop her rolling away while she catches her breath. Her other hand grips onto the edge of the dresser tightly as a wave of dizziness washes over her and her vision goes a little spotty.
Changing the baby’s diaper turns into a collaborative effort, Maya instructing the kids to grab and pass things so she doesn’t need to move too much. However the longer she’s standing up the worse she’s feeling so making it back to bed is a priority. She scoops up Gianna, kissing her on the forehead and then resting her against her hip as she starts back to the master bedroom.
She gets halfway when her vision swims again and she puts a hand out against the wall to catch herself.
Automatically, she takes a deep breath but that turns out to be a major mistake when it triggers another coughing fit and she has no choice but to slide down the wall, sitting heavily on the floor and shifting Gianna to sit on her lap.
The coughing just won’t stop, her eyes streaming and her stomach hurting as she tries to catch her breath but just can’t. Liam’s hand makes its way to her back again while Andrea appears with her water bottle, looking so concerned that a wave of guilt washes over Maya.
Through the coughing fit she hears footsteps on the stairs and she looks up to the eyes of her annoyed but mostly concerned wife.
“Woah, you’re okay, you’re okay,” she soothes as Maya continues to cough uncontrollably, kneeling down beside her and taking Gianna and then getting Andrea to pass the water bottle over. “Here, small sips.”
It’s another 30 seconds or so before the coughing fit subsides enough for Maya to be able to speak and she turns to her wife, feeling awful for scaring her again. “I’m sorry,” she rasps, her eyes streaming. “Gi … crying …”
“And stinky!” Andrea chimes in, making them all laugh softly.
Carina reaches out and cups her cheek, wiping away the tears from the coughing fit. “I know, but you need to stop getting out of bed.”
Maya just looks at her wife - she knows that that simply isn’t going to work with three kids in the house and the other parent busy with work.
“Bene … bambini, why don’t you pick out a calm board game to play with mommy in bed. I will finish with the call I’m on right now then I’m going to reschedule my afternoon.”
“You don’t have to -”
“I want to. Plus, I don’t think you’re going to be able to stay in bed otherwise.”
Maya smiles guiltily, handing her water bottle back to Andrea as her wife reaches out a hand to help her up. “You love me anyway.”
“I do … now come on, get back into bed and stay there!”