Chapter Text
Maya always hated meetings. Meetings kept her away from her team, kept her away from calls, and kept her away from doing the most lucrative part of her job: fighting literal fires. However, she loathes them on a different level now that they’re the only thing she can do.
Thirty two weeks into pregnancy and meetings are about the only thing she’s good for. Meetings, and meetings, and somehow even more meetings.
“Come in,” Maya says from behind her desk.
Midday rolled around and she was expecting either Battalion Chief Herrera or Battalion Chief Sullivan to stride into her office with a list of incident reports to discuss from the previous shift. Both of her former colleagues moved up the ranks to chief and have been overseeing a number of her calls now that she can’t go out in the field. It's been incredibly helpful for Maya and the rest of Station 19 to have someone they trust with them, but it makes filing paperwork a nightmare.
Being the youngest female Captain in the SFD, and the only one to ever be pregnant while on duty, is both honorable and confusing.
“¡Dios mío!” Andy exclaims, “you look ready to pop, Maya!”
Maya is happy to see her friend. It’s been nearly three weeks since she last saw her.
Andy rushes over to Maya’s desk to give her a hug. “How are you? How’s the baby? How’s Carina and the kids?”
Maya smiles at Andy. The sincerity of her best friend is one of the things Maya appreciates the most. “Carina and the kids are perfect as always. I’m hanging in there, feeling bigger than ever,” Maya jokes as she rubs her large baby belly.
She doesn’t know how it’s even possible for it to get any bigger, and she still has eight weeks until her due date.
Andy smirks at Maya’s remark. “And your ankles? Are they still functioning?”
The joke is not lost on Maya. “They are. Somehow, someway.”
Andy sits down at the chair across from Maya’s desk. “Sorry for dropping by a little later than normal. Robert is on furlough to see if he can get some federal funding for his VA program, so he’s having me cover the incident reports from the last couple shifts.”
Maya nods her head. She remembers Sullivan mentioning something like that. “Don’t be sorry, Herrera. You’re doing me a huge favor for taking incident command while I can’t.”
Andy looks at Maya with a knowing glance, “hopefully this is the start of some serious maternity policy change in the SFD. You’re making waves, Maya Kathleen—you always have been.”
The blonde bites her upper lip. God, she truly does love her best friend. “I hope so. I am lucky to be in this position. I never thought I would be.”
“Pregnant or Captain again?”
“Both, either,” Maya explains. “I never thought I’d get pregnant until Carina, and I never thought I’d be promoted again. Somehow I got both.”
Andy grins at Maya with deep pride in her eyes. “You did always say we’d be running this place.”
Maya looks back on those days so fondly. They may not have been as wonderful as her life now, but she’s grateful for the ambition that got her here. She’s grateful for her place as Captain.
“So let’s start with last week, the grocery store fire…”
“STILL ALARM: KITCHEN”
Maya and Andy jump up from their seats. Still alarms aren’t common. Andy is ahead of Maya as they rush up the stairs towards the kitchen. Maya can’t hear the fire alarm so she assumes it’s not a fire, but with her team, it could be anything.
“What the hell?” Maya exclaims as she reaches the top of the stairs and the whole room is dark.
She hears a bit of movement before a loud, “SURPRISE!!” is yelled.
Maya nearly jumps out of her skin. She hates surprises.
Carina’s eyes land on her wife and she can’t help but laugh, “Happy Baby Shower, Capitano DeLuca-Bishop!”
Maya looks around at all the pink decorations around her. She tears up at the thought of all the time and effort her friends and her family must have put into this.
“Don’t cry, Mommy!” Andrea says as she runs towards Maya to give her a hug. Liam is just on her tail to also give his Mom a hug.
“Happy tears,” Maya admits. “Happy tears I promise.”
“And we thought hormonal Maya was bad the first time around,” Travis Montgomery says with a laugh.
Maya looks at him and at Vic who is right next to him. She hasn’t seen them in almost a year. “You two are a sight for sore eyes.”
Vic grins, “You too, Captain Mommy.”
“No,” Maya deadpans. “That will not become a new nickname.”
Jack and Travis share the amusem*nt with Vic. They love to tease Maya.
“But seriously,” Maya says, “you really didn’t have to do this. This isn’t Carina and I’s first baby.”
“That’s true,” Carina states, “but it’s yours, Maya. It’s your first time experiencing pregnancy and we just wanted to celebrate you.”
Maya reaches for her wife’s hand. She loves Carina and the life they’ve built together. It’s beautiful and everything she could’ve ever wanted.
“So who wants to play a game of: which Olympic sport will Baby DeLuca-Bishop play?” Ben Warren suggests as he uncovers a large whiteboard with dozens of sports, both winter and summer, listed.
Maya giggles as she sits down next to Carina, Liam, and Drea.
“As an Italian I must place my bet on football,” Carina says. Liam is still playing football (American soccer), but he has no plans to try and make an Olympic team. And Andrea is too enamored with art to play sports.
Andy jumps in next, “I’m sorry, Maya, but I gotta say, she seems like a runner to me. I’m thinking about the 100m dash.”
Maya groans. She has a serious love hate relationship with the idea of her kids running track. On one hand she thinks it’ll be a wonderful experience for them because running is such a unique sport, but she also knows that if they’re like her, they might use running as a way of not dealing with their emotions, and that isn’t healthy.
“Surfing,” Liam suggests.
Maya raises an eyebrow at him, “surfing? We live in Seattle.”
Liam grins, “who’s to say we can’t move to Hawaii if she’s really good.”
Maya laughs at her son. She ruffles his hair with her hand as Vic is the next to speak up.
“Speed climbing,” the Crisis One CEO replies. “The perfect combination of Maya’s strength and Carina’s problem-solving skills.”
Maya could get on board with that.
Beckett is the next to suggest a sport, “I think swimming is a strong contender. Enough family vacations to the water in Italy might breed an Olympic swimmer,” he jokes with a grin.
“What do you think, Maya?” Ben Warren asks.
Honestly, Maya has thought about this. She joked with Carina about how Drea was going to be an artist based on the way she would smear her baby food across her high chair tray when she was little. She also remembers joking about Liam playing soccer when he refused to stay in his swaddle, always kicking his way out. But it’s not as obvious as it is with the baby she has been growing inside of her for seven months.
The flips, the kicks, the turns, all make it pretty clear. “Gymnastics,” Maya states confidently.
Carina smiles at Maya. She agrees with that. She places her hand on Maya’s belly and can feel the baby moving around.
“I think in a few years we’ll be hearing about the next Simone Biles,” Carina says with a proud smile, “our little Gianna Maya DeLuca-Bishop.”
It’s the first time they’ve told anyone other than their kids the name they picked out.
A series of “awws” and “oh how cute” are followed. Maya loves that everyone she loves is somehow in a room together. It’s been a long time since she’s seen Theo and Vic and Travis. It’s also been a while since she’s seen Chief Ross (who isn’t their Fire Chief anymore, but the name has stuck), and her former enemy turned close friend, Sean Beckett.
“You finally got your name in there, Cap,” Andy says as she rubs Maya’s shoulder. “Now any word on the godparents?”
Maya rolls her eyes. She knows that Andy is just waiting for her to tell her that she’s Gianna’s godmom, but Maya had planned to wait until they met Gianna in person.
“The plan was to wait until after she was born,” Maya explains, “but I guess we could tell them now?”
Carina nods. She’s fine as long as Maya is.
Maya looks at her best friend, “Andy, if you’d accept it, we would like you to be Gianna’s godmother?”
Andy practically leaps into Maya’s arms. She hugs her friend tightly and kisses her cheek. “Of course. I’ve only been waiting forever!” She lowers her gaze towards Maya’s belly. Andy places her hand on it gently and kisses the side of it. “I’ve got you, little Gigi. Tia Andy is gonna spoil you rotten. Just ask your brother and sister.”
Liam and Drea giggle. They love their Tia Andy.
“And Jack?” Carina says as she looks toward a friend, “we were hoping you’d be her godfather?”
Jack’s eyes go wide. “Me?”
Maya nods. “There’s no one we trust more with our last little peanut.”
Jack reaches to give Carina a hug. Nearly fifteen years ago they almost had a kid together, and he was almost permanently connected to the DeLuca-Bishop family. And now, he supposes that he finally is.
Maya stands up to join in on Carina and Jack’s hug. Their history is completely forgotten when she sees how happy Jack is.
“Can I?” Jack asks, gesturing towards Maya’s belly.
She nods.
“Hi Gianna,” he says, talking to her stomach. “I’m Uncle Jack, your coolest uncle. Tia Andy and I promise to always watch over you, little Maya. Just like your mom, if you break a rule, we’ll have your back because we probably also broke that rule.”
Maya laughs. It’s entirely true. Her days with Andy and Jack at Station 19 were full of rule breaking.
“Okay next game!” Ben says, getting the attention back, “we need Liam and Andrea for this one.”
Liam hops up from his chair. He and his sister planned this game out with their Uncle Ben.
“Okay,” Liam states, “this is a game of strength, a game of intelligence, and a game of survival.”
Maya grins at Liam’s dramatic explanation of whatever game this is.
Andrea rolls a cart out from behind the kitchen, “we are playing a cutthroat game of: Can You Stomach The Weird Pregnancy Craving?”
Carina and Maya burst out laughing.
“We are playing this in teams. The goal is to swallow a bite, spoonful, or whatever sort of serving you are given of the weird food combination. Since you are on a team, you will be given two points if you both do it, a single point if only one of you can, but your team will be eliminated if you cannot stomach it,” Liam explains.
Andrea brings out a clipboard, “the teams are as follows: Vic and Travis, Sully and Ross, Andy and Jack, Ben and Miranda, Theo and Beckett, and lastly, the moms to be, Maya and Carina.”
They groan. “How is that fair? Maya shouldn’t be allowed to compete!” Travis exclaims dramatically.
“Don’t be such a sore loser, Montgomery,” Maya states.
“Enough with the arguing.” Liam reaches for a bag of hot Cheetos and a container of strawberry yogurt. “Starting off strong with one of the strangest combinations, strawberry yogurt and hot Cheetos.”
Jack gags. “How on earth, Maya?”
Maya shrugs her shoulders, “you’re goddaughter wants what she wants.”
As much as she hates having the attention on her, having Liam and Andrea take the front of the room makes it easier. Maya can only imagine how Carina felt when she had a baby shower full of firefighters and doctors.
“No offense, Captain, but this is nasty,” Theo states as he somehow manages to swallow the Cheeto dipped in yogurt.
Andrea waits a moment before tallying up the results. “It appears as though each team has passed the first combination. It only gets worse from here.”
Carina giggles as Liam brings out the next one. This is a craving both her and Maya shared during their pregnancies.
“The classic, fried onion rings dipped in chocolate sauce.”
Carina and Maya each quickly reach for an onion ring and dip it in the sauce. Carina feeds hers to Maya and Maya feeds hers to Carina.
Maya leans in to kiss Carina, the remnants of chocolate still on her lips.
“Is anyone not brave enough to try it?” Liam asks, looking around as a few of them seem especially wary.
Miranda raises her hand, “as much as I love you two,” she looks at Maya and Carina, “I prefer to not torture myself with awful food.”
Ben sighs. He knows he can’t make Miranda do anything, so he eats his onion ring to ensure they stay in the game.
“Alright then,” Andrea says, “it would appear that Uncle Ben and Aunt Miranda are now in last place. Don’t worry, there are still plenty of disgusting combinations to come.”
Andrea starts spooning out the next awful combination and immediately Vic reacts, “there is no way!”
Maya looks down at the tuna, barbecue sauce, and ice cream mixture and laughs. It was definitely a strange craving, but she knows there is one that none of them will be willing to try.
“A Maya Bishop speciality,” Liam grins, “vanilla ice cream topped with canned tuna fish and barbecue sauce.”
“That’s DeLuca-Bishop, young man,” Maya gently corrects.
Liam hands each team a bowl and two spoons. Carina immediately bows out. She’s tried it before and it nearly had her keeled over the toilet throwing up. She lets Maya take the bite and keep them in the game.
Across the table both Theo and Beckett give up. Travis takes a bite to keep him and Vic in the game. Ben joins his wife and concedes the competition. Jack sucks it up for Andy and somehow swallows the bite. Sullivan and Ross take a serious look at the concoction before deciding it wasn’t worth the trouble.
Liam and Andrea laugh as they collect the bowls and tally the scores.
“So it appears that the final three teams are all within winning distance. With five points we have our lovely moms, Maya and Carina. And each tied without four points are Team Vic and Travis and Team Andy and Jack. Good luck teams!”
Andrea hands each of them a bottle of water as she finishes speaking, “you’re gonna need it.”
Liam clears his throat, “and now for the grand finale, the most disgusting combination known to man…” he reaches for a metal tray and showfully uncovers the food, “salted watermelon dipped in a wonderful mixture of brown gravy and cottage cheese.”
The smell is enough to have several people fanning their noses immediately. Nothing about that combination is appetizing.
Maya reaches for a slice of the melon and immediately dips it into the mixture and right into her mouth. “Easy as that.”
Travis’s eyes are wide in horror. “Captain, that cannot be good for you. It smells like dead bodies.”
Carina doesn’t entirely disagree.
“Maya, I love you, but I cannot. You can win this one,” Andy says as she pushes the lid back over the tray. She knows Jack and Vic aren’t going to try it either.
Maya laughs as everyone gives up on trying the craving.
“Carina, did Maya make you get this stuff at 3am? Was she one of those pregnant ladies?” Jack asks in a joking tone.
Carina shakes her head, “she knows better than to wake me, but I would find her in the kitchen eating this stuff at 3 am. It’s payback for when I made her get me spaghetti to put on a burger at 3am when I was pregnant with Drea.”
Maya remembers that fondly. It was definitely an interesting choice, but she would’ve done anything to satiate Carina’s cravings at the time. Carina had done the same for her.
“Alright, now it’s time for gifts!” Vic giggles as she stands to her feet and presents Maya and Carina with a gift bag for each of them.
“Oh Lord,” Maya mumbles as she begins to take out some of the tissue paper. She can already see where this is headed.
Liam peers over Maya’s shoulder and bursts out laughing.
“Show us!” Travis exclaims as he watches Carina’s face turn bright red.
Maya and Carina each hold up a Barbie doll. Maya’s doll has on a near replica of her Olympic uniform from 2012, everything matching even down to the bib number. Carina’s, on the other hand, is a doctor doll in pink scrubs, but she’s holding in her hand a piece of quite erotic vagin* art.
The entire beanery is full of deep laughter.
Andrea looks at Maya though with her bright blue eyes, “Mommy, I don’t get what’s so funny about Mamma’s doll. She’s just a doctor.”
Maya bites her lip and gently strokes Andrea’s face, “that’s right, Drea.”
She glares at Vic. Vic simply smirks and hands her another wrapped box.
“This one is from Travis and Dom,” Vic explains. Maya takes the box from her and has Carina help her unwrap it.
Carina immediately kisses the box when she sees it. “Yes yes yes! I’ve been trying to track one of these down for years. Where did you find it?”
If Maya could sink into a hole in the floor she would. She knew Carina has been searching for a box of Wheaties with Maya’s picture on it for as long as she’s known her, but she’s never found one. The only one Maya knew existed was the one framed in the US Olympic museum.
“Dom knows a guy who collects all sorts of Olympic memorabilia. We didn’t have to pay much for it,” Travis states, “no offense, Maya.”
Maya rolls her eyes. Carina is showing the box to Liam and Andrea. “This is getting displayed,” Carina grins as she hugs the cereal box.
It’s crazy to Maya, but she doesn’t question it. She does however question something else, “so I know we already have two kids and that means we have all the basics like cribs and clothes, but are we gonna receive any baby stuff?” Maya asks as she rubs her hand over her belly.
Andy smiles brightly at Maya’s question. “Well actually all of us came together and bought you something we think you’ll appreciate. It’s downstairs in your office.”
Maya furrows her brow. How did they manage to sneak a gift into her office without her knowing?
Carina takes Maya’s hand and leads her down towards her Captain's office. Carina knows about the gift, and she knows it’ll be much appreciated.
Carina takes her hands and puts them over Maya’s face before she walks in. “Don’t look, Bambina.”
“I couldn’t if I tried,” Maya replies.
Liam and Andrea guide their mom into her office as the rest of her team and friends gather inside and in the doorway.
“Careful,” Carina says to Liam as he pulls Maya towards the area behind her desk. It’s tight back there now that her belly protrudes so far.
Carina counts down from three and takes her eyes off of Maya’s face. She points towards the spot by Maya’s desk that used to be occupied by a trash can, but is now occupied by a brand new mini fridge.
“We know the SFD has very little written in the books about protecting breastfeeding mom’s space and time while on duty, and you’re especially lucky since you have your own office, but we figured a mini fridge would be of great help for twenty four hour shifts,” Andy explains as she holds Jack’s hand.
Maya smiles as tears poke her eyes. She’s voiced her concerns about this to Carina a few times before. At first she was hesitant about the possibility of breastfeeding while working such long hours, but Carina had told her that if she wanted to do it, they’d find a way. Maya already felt uncomfortable at the idea of possibly having to pump while at work, but the idea of having to store bottles of breastmilk in the fridge the whole station shared made her feel even worse.
Maya couldn’t be more grateful.
“This is so thoughtful,” Maya says as she wipes a tear, “I really appreciate it.”
“No problem, Captain,” Andy states. “We’re here for you, Carina, Gianna, Liam, and Andrea. We’ve always got your back.”
Maya gives her best friend a hug. She misses being with Andy every day. However, she’s incredibly lucky to have a Battalion Chief as thoughtful as Andy is.
“Now for the rest,” Ben sighs, “it’s mostly your standard baby stuff from here. Nothing you probably haven’t seen before.”
Vic jokes as they walk up the stairs towards the beanery again, “they haven’t had a baby in the house for nine years. Technology has changed a lot.”
Maya scoffs, “is this your way of calling me old, Hughes?”
Vic looks between Maya and Carina, “I don’t think I’d live another day if I did.” She knows good and well not to call Maya anything because Carina will come after her. An angry Italian is not a pleasant sight.
Maya sits back down in the chair at the head of the table. Liam stands next to her, liking to be near his mom and littlest sister. Andrea is sitting on Carina’s leg, watching as her moms open a number of firefighter themed onesies.
Maya is just about to open the present when the Klaxon goes off and calls the entire team away on a call. Andy goes with them as incident command and Maya just sits and watches them go.
She hates not going with them, but she still hates meetings more.
“Do you wanna take some of this stuff home?” Maya asks Carina as she starts trying to organize the chaos on the table.
Carina nods, “Sì. Liam, Drea, and I will get this home and then hopefully you’ll make it for bedtime and a shower?”
The Captain nods. She wishes she could be home earlier, but the party has taken up time in her day where she’d normally be working. “I will try.”
Liam and Andrea go up to Maya and each give her a hug before they leave with their arms full of gifts for their baby sister—and a few for them.
“Text me when you get home, babe,” Maya says to Carina. She kisses her cheek. “I love you.”
Carina kisses Maya back and then kisses her bump. “Ti amo, amore mio.”
Maya walks back down to her office and begins to work on the incident reports. She can’t help but feel incredibly grateful.
———
Carina lets Maya tuck the kids in when she gets home. Not that they need tucked in at their ages anymore, but she knows it makes them feel safe to have a hug and kiss from their Mommy before falling asleep.
Carina begins to run a bath when she gets to their master bedroom. She could see on Maya’s face when she arrived home that the rest of her shift must have drained all the energy she had left. She’s used to Maya being exhausted after work, but pregnancy is taking it out of her even quicker.
Running a bath is what Maya used to do for Carina when she would come home after a long shift feeling worn down and exhausted. Maya would fill it with just the right amount of bubbles and she’d let Carina relax while she massaged her shoulders, back, and feet.
Carina knows Maya could use the same treatment.
“Hey,” Maya smiles as she sees her wife sitting on the edge of the tub feeling the water.
“Hi,” Carina replies. “I was just running a warm bath. I think it’ll help relieve some of this stress,” Carina explains as she helps Maya take off her jacket, rubbing her tight shoulders.
Maya relaxes at her touch. “Thank you. For all of it.”
Maya cannot truly express how grateful she is for her wife.
Carina’s heart is full of the same gratitude for Maya.
Maya quickly changes out of her clothes and ties her short hair back into a ponytail. She pauses in the mirror for a moment.
Her body is unfamiliar. There’s stretch marks where there used to be chiseled abs. Her breasts are large and sore. She cannot even see her toes when she looks down.
Carina catches her wife staring at her own reflection in the mirror. She slowly approaches Maya from behind and rests a hand on her back and one snakes around her waist to rest on her belly.
“You’re so beautiful, Bella,” Carina says, kissing Maya’s neck.
Maya wishes she felt the same. “I just feel so out of control sometimes. Like I don’t even recognize myself in the mirror.”
Carina rubs her finger over the stretch marks adorning Maya’s belly. She knows Maya has tried to avoid this. Carina has even tried to help by rubbing cream on her growing belly as the weeks passed, but sometimes there’s no stopping it.
“When I was young, my dad used to make me stand on the scale in my parent’s bathroom. He would look at me up and down and poke at any part of my body he thought wasn’t skinny enough.” Maya admits as tears start to fall from her cheeks. “This isn’t that, but I don’t think my heart truly knows the difference.”
Carina slowly moves Maya away from the mirror so that her back is facing the mirror. Carina gently presses a hand to Maya’s breast, holding it gently as Maya hisses in slight discomfort.
“You know what I see when I look at you?” Carina asks.
Maya sniffs, “a hot mess?”
Carina shakes her head. “My wife. My beautiful wife who once won an Olympic gold medal on a sprained ankle. My wife who carries people out of burning buildings for a living. And my wife who, even when she doubted she could, chose to carry a baby so that our family could be complete. That’s the kind of strength that isn’t shown in muscles.”
Maya rests her head against Carina’s shoulder. She missed this. She misses the physical intimacy of her wife’s gentle touch.
“I don’t know if strong is the right word to use,” Maya sighs.
Carina kisses her head, “well then I guess I could say that my wife is very sexy.”
“I bet you tell that to all the pregnant ladies,” Maya jokes.
Carina looks at Maya for a moment. She looks deep into her blue eyes. “You don’t have to joke, Bambina. I love you and I love your body.”
“And after?” Maya asks, “Will you still love it after?”
Carina gently kisses Maya. She kisses her forehead, her neck, her breasts, and her belly. “I’ll love it for the rest of my life. It’s perfect.”
Maya fights the urge to joke about it, but she doesn’t. Instead she turns back to face the mirror. She looks at herself from Carina’s eyes.
And Carina was right, it is beautiful. It’s her body. The body that’s growing a baby girl. A baby girl they’ve wanted for a very long time. A body that’s preparing itself to feed and nourish that baby girl. A body that’s been faced with a lot of challenges, but somehow always came out stronger.
“Now you mentioned something about a bath?” Maya grins as she slowly unties Carina’s robe.
“For you, not for me,” Carina says with a smile.
Maya raises an eyebrow, “but what if I want a massage?”
Carina throws her hands up, “then my wife will get a massage.”
Maya and Carina get into the tub. Carina begins to rub the stress out of Maya’s tense shoulders, gently kissing each body part as she finishes massaging it.
Maya plays with Carina’s hair as they go. She takes note of the long gray hairs. She’s been observing more of them appear on Carina’s head as they’ve moved through this pregnancy.
“You’re lucky your hair is blonde, Maya. All the grays are obvious in my hair.” Carina says as she pushes the hair out of Maya’s face.
Maya looks at her wife and kisses her. “Your gray hairs are just as perfect as you are.”
Carina listens to Maya. She too could always use a reminder.
“One day we’ll both be old and gray and dreaming about sharing baths together,” Maya says with a laugh.
Carina grins at the idea of that. She can already picture Maya, older and grayer, but still beautiful. They’re right by each to her until the end.
Carina rests her hand on Maya’s belly with Maya’s hand on top of hers. They sit in silence as the sweet smell of soap fills the air and the twists and turns of their baby girl, Gianna, light up their faces with smiles.
It's in moments like these when Maya cannot wait for the rest of her life. She can’t wait to see the beauty.
