Chapter Text
“Damn, looking snazzy Bishop!”
Vic exclaimed, clapping her hands excitedly. They had been waiting for female fitted firefighting gear for years. Chief Ross had finally started the process of getting the female crew members their gear- starting with 19. Maya smiled at her and spun around.
“Thank you, buuuuut I'm not Bishop anymore”. She paused with her back to Vic, proudly showing off the name at the bottom of her jacket.
“DeLuca-Bishop” Vic read.
“Isn't that a bit of a mouthful to say on scene?” Travis chimed in as he joined them in the gear room.
Maya rolled her eyes, turning back around to face her friends.
“It is, I'll just be 'DeLuca'". Maya said easily. She went about taking her gear off and putting it on her rack.
“Awwwwww that's adorable. You're sooo whipped”. There was a time when Maya would have been mortified talking about feelings and how much Carina had her wrapped around her little finger. But she had almost lost her wife when she had lost herself. She had a long road to go, but she had made a lot of progress. She was a different person now.
“I am” she answered a goofy smile on her face as she looked at the name. She hadn't told Carina.
“We're teasing, but we're happy for you Maya” Travis smiled at her, squeezing her shoulder as he walked past her. Vic squealed and hugged her from behind. She, Andy and Maya (and Carina) had been hanging our more lately.
“What prompted the change? Apart from the obvious separated and back together?”
“Well uh, I never actually thought about it. It's going to sound stupid but when the floor collapsed at the ball, and Andy was assigning us and she looked at Carina and I and just said our names “DeLuca…” then “Bishop”; I didn't like that it didn't sound like we were… urgh. I told you it was stupid”. She blushed, saying it outloud made it sound like she was a schoolgirl with a crush.
“Awwww nawww I can't. It's too cute. You're so into your wife honestly”. Vic batted her eyes and patted her own chest where her heart rested.
“What are we talking about?” Andy entered the room, a clipboard in hand.
“How much ‘DeLuca’ is a suck for her wife”. Vic said, playfully elbowing Maya before moving away towards her own gear rack.
Andy just smiled, she was proud of the work her friend had done on herself. Maya had put so much work on her mental health, her trauma and she had fought hard to get her family back and had changed so much from when they had first met. Andy had been worried that Maya would challenge her, try to undermine her and get the captaincy back. She thought back of the conversation Maya had initiated a few days after her promotion.
“I'm not gonna fight you, I'm not gonna make waves or get in your way you know. This is your house. It was always meant to be your house.”
“So you don't wanna be captain anymore?” Andy couldn't help but ask. Maya sighed, not answering right away.
“I do. I want to become a captain and I want to become a battalion chief one day. But that's not all I want anymore. And I have amends to make. I lost myself, I lost sense of why we do this job. Who we do this job for. And I almost lost everything. I'm not going to risk losing Carina ever again, I can get another job, but I can't another Carina”.
“Who are you and what have you done with my best friend” Andy teased, though her unshed tears gave her away.
“I'm proud of having you as a captain Andy, and I'll show you that you can rely on me again, both personally and professionally. And when the time is right, if you are still captain and not battalion chief yourself by then, I will come to you, and I will request a transfer, and go find my own house to become captain in. But this isn't the time, and it is not my prority at the moment".
*
Andy came back to the present as she heard her team's banter.
“Alright guys, you've got 20 mins to eat then it's…inventory time!” Everyone groaned except Maya.
“Hey! DeLuca!” She called. Maya looked back, and Andy rolled her eyes at her friend's giddiness.
“Captain?” She asked, turning back.
“You're on clipboard duty” Maya flashed her a megawatt smile as Vic teased her the return of “queen of the clipboard”
–
Maya loved clinic days. They got to do good work and help the community, and most importantly, she got to work with her wife. Maya looked around and smiled, Carina was waving her hands around, animatedly talking to Vic, Travis and Ben about something. All three of them were listening to her every word, Vic and Travis doubling over, laughing while Ben was shaking his head.
“Hey, DeLuca!” Both Maya and Carina turned around at the name.
“Not you Doc, the other Deluca” Chief Ross called out from the mezzanine above the barn, pointing at Maya.
“Yes chief?” Maya answered, she had yet to tell Carina about her name change at work. Chief Ross signaled for Maya to meet her where she was. Maya obeyed without a backward glance.
-
The clinic day had been busier than expected. An array of pregnant women and teenagers needing advice had kept Carina busy all day. She felt content yet exhausted. The clinic was closed and the last few patients were making their way out. Travis, Vic, Ben and other firefighters Carina didn't know yet were putting away things. Carina had tidied up her station and decided to look for the elusive Maya ‘DeLuca’. She couldn't help the goofy smile adorning her face. Maya had come back down after chief Ross had requested her attention, but it had been too busy for them to have an actual conversation. Maya had kept bringing her coffee, food and water throughout the day though.
Carina stepped out of the barn and through the main hallway. The new ‘probie’ was mending the phone. Carina waved politely, before peeking inside Andy's office. Maya wasn't there, so she decided to venture upstairs. Maya was facing her locker, she had pants on and her sports bra. Carina looked around to make sure they were alone before walking towards her wife. Maya tensed momentarily as she felt warm hands snake around her waist and a warm breath on her neck.
“Hi, I'm looking for firefighter ‘DeLuca’. She's very sexy and very strong and I haven't seen her much today.” Maya sighed and closed her eyes. She still wasn't a big fan of PDA, definitely not this kind in the middle of the changing rooms. But Carina smelled fantastic and her hands were warm and soft on her stomach and her mouth was kissing her on the neck and Maya forgot everything else except her wife. She stifled a moan and gripped the sides of her locker, willing herself to tame the arousal she felt.
“Non iniziare qualcosa che non puoi finire” Maya breathed with a heavy accent. Carina froze before groaning loudly, her frustration shining through. Maya laughed and used the moment to turn around. She wrapped her arm behind her wife's neck and kissed her fondly before connecting their foreheads.
“Bambina, I don't think you should speak Italian to me when we are at the station or in public”
“Oh? Perché Mai?” Maya squealed, breaking her rule of ever EVER acting this way at work. She wrestled herself out if Carina’s tickling grasp, grabbing a t-shirt and a dress shirt. Carina watched her getting dressed hungrily. She approached her wife once she was done buttoning up. She smiled, her finger grazing the name tag reading ‘Lt DeLuca’.
“So, this is new” Carina tapped on the name tag softly. Maya blushed and looked down, feeling shy about it.
“I'm sorry I didn't talk to you about it, I just. I didn't like that when I'm at work we didn't have the same last name”.
“I love it Bambina” Carina put her wife out of her rambling misery, kissing her left cheek softly. Maya looked up at her, studying Carina for a moment. Carina smirked and lifted an eyebrow. Maya seemed to read her and be satisfied with what she saw. Carina loved the level of closeness they had reached once more, perhaps even closer than before. They could read each other so well now.
“And I love that you are learning Italian too”
“Yeah?”
“Sì bella” she sealed it with a kiss before stepping back as she heard footsteps behind her. Maya chased after her mouth but let her go. Carina reluctantly grabbed her bag out of Maya’s locker. As much as she loved clinic days, it was always bittersweet when it fell in the middle of Maya’s shift.
“COMING AROUND THE CORNER, HUGHIE, GIBLET AND MAYOR FIRE INCOMING. I REPEAT…” Both of them laughed as Vic's antics. Their friend was stomping her feet loudly as she rounded the corner and came into view.
“Oh good. You're decent”
“Don't look so surprised Hughes” Maya threw while grabbing Carina’s hand.
“Whatevs’ DeLuca we all know you can't resist ..this” she gestured wildly around Carina. Carina rolled her eyes, though her smile once again betrayed her.
“I should go and leave you guys to it, will you walk me out bambina?”
“Leave? Now? But Giblet and Probie Joe made sloppy Joe's!”
“Yeah come on Doc, you're one of the team now”
“Plus Maya is gonna sulk all night when you leave so please please please stick around?” Vic joined her hands together and looked at her with puppy eyes.
“Hey! I do not sulk” Her protest was met with a chorus of exaggerated, sarcastic “sure you don't” and “you?! Pff never!”.
Carina laughed at the team's antics, she let go of Maya's hand only to place her purse back in her locker, before grabbing it again.
“Alright, lead the road Hughes” Cheers erupted, the team always excited at Carina hanging out with them. They especially loved Carina's take on american idioms, no one corrected her at the Station, loving it too much.
The Italian couldn't stop smiling. She really had missed spending time here when she and Maya were apart. She had once said she loved hanging out at the station, because it felt like a friend's house whose family you wished would adopt you. Nowadays, it really felt as though the station's ‘family’ had adopted her. They sat side by side, Maya's hand on her lap.
It felt so good to be home.