Crash- Station 19/Marina

Firefighter picnics and bad news

The fire department was having a big picnic gathering to raise money the day after Maya's evaluations. They'd been planning on going, Carina wasn't sure if she'd still want to after the previous day but she did, she needed a distraction and they could always leave if she needed to. So they were pulling up at the park a bit before it started. Carina parked and got out as someone came over looking annoyed.

"Hey! You can't park there, that's a handicapped spot and you clearly don't need it! Move your car!"

Carina ignored him, walking around to the trunk and opening it to get Maya's chair.

"Hey, don't ignore me. You need to move your car. Handicapped spots are not for unloading, get back in your car. You can carry whatever you have from the regular parking" the guy insisted

"Move" Carina says to the guy now blocking her from getting to the trunk. He didn't so she walked around him to get the chair, lifting it out of the trunk.

"Why do you have that? You clearly don't need it, you're taking things away from people who need it." The guy continues, getting in her way again.

Carina just moved around him again, going to the passenger side and opening Maya's door. The guy continued following her, refusing to give up.

"I'm sorry" Carina whispered to Maya as she reached over her to unbuckle her seatbelt. The guy was right behind her still going on about how she needed to move and shouldn't be taking wheelchairs from people who need them. Maya wrapped her arms around Carina's neck and she lifted her out of the car, carrying her to her chair and putting her down. Then she closed the car door and started positioning Maya and strapping her in.

"Am I disabled enough for you?" Maya says "Or do I need to snap my neck up a bit higher so I can't breathe to qualify for this spot?" Then she turns around and started pushing herself away, Carina following her. Then she turns back toward him "also, it's accessible parking, not handicapped. Carina let's go find 19"

Carina understood what Maya meant, she wanted to be pushed but couldn't ask for it. Carina took over pushing her chair and they went to find the rest of 19.

Once they joined 19 they were having fun. Maya couldn't move herself around on the grass which she didn't like but Carina or someone from 19 would always help her. Her neck and shoulders were sore from all the testing the day before but she was trying to ignore it and enjoy the day. The combination of pushing herself the day before at the evaluation and being pushed around on the bumpy grass was causing her legs to spasm which was hard to ignore, she hated spasms in general but especially when she was in public, people always stared. Of course it was her luck that the angry guy from the parking lot walked by while she was having one of her more intense spasms, one leg bouncing while the other had kicked out off her footrest entirely.

"Hey! Why are you faking? You want nice parking that bad you're going to sit in a wheelchair all day? How did you even get that wheelchair?" The guy started yelling. At first Maya was confused why he though she was faking. Why anyone would pretend to be paralyzed was beyond her but why would he think she was faking when she couldn't even use her hands. "If you're going to pretend to be paralyzed to get pity you shouldn't move your leg!" He continued.

Maya realized what he was talking about then, her spasms. The involuntary, often painful muscle spasms she would get anywhere in her body that made it difficult to do anything.

"I am paralyzed, why would anyone fake that? My legs are spasming, I don't have any control over it, its signals trying to get through my messed up, severed spinal cord." Maya replies, not being able to ignore him anymore. "Do you even know what a spinal cord injury is?"