The best is yet to come

I will keep you safe

two months and a half earlier

"We're home Little bean." Maya spoke walking into the apartment holding the little bundle in her left arm. The baby was so little that it fit perfectly in the firefighter's left only.

Finally being allowed to bring her home was probably the greatest gift someone could possibly give them.
Both Joy and Carina had to stay a little longer due to the complications accured during the birth. But the baby's stats had been normal for the past three days and so had Carina's.
Maya would have lived in the hospital if it were up to her, and so would Leslie, but the only wise one in the family, that would be Carina, quickly convinced them both that staying home was the best choice, but that they could come to the hospital even eighteen hours a day as long as they slept home.

Baby Joy travelled from NICU to Carina's room everyday, probably ten times a day, including breastfeeding times.
The italian knew that it was for both their safety, that the baby sometimes during the day needed a little oxygen to help her breathe until her lungs would settle and that she needed to rest herself after the more than eventful birth she experienced.

Sometimes Carina would walk out of her room and towards NICU to hold her in the middle of the night, almost feeling her crying from few rooms away. The baby in the mother's belly could feel every tiny feeling, from the worst fear to the highest happiness, and now it was like she could feel the baby's ones.

Maya and Leslie would get to Carina first thing in the morning to give her a soft kiss and a hug before settling down waiting for any nurse to bring baby J, as Leslie had already baptized her little sister.
It made her chuckle everytime the nurse would gently put the baby in her arms calling her 'big sister'. She never pictured herself as one and she hadn't pictured herself in a family, not anymore after her mother's death. And now she had this wonderful new family fulfilled with love, capable of making her love.

Maya on the other hand was basically worried all the time. About both Carina and Joy's stats, about the fact she had been off of work for God only knew how long, she had totally lost count of the days, and also about Leslie who seemed a little off sometimes during the day.

So when they both finally got the clear to go home she let a big sigh and started to grab Carina's things to drive them home. She had brought the detachable stroller immediately the day after the birth to make sure that whener it was finally time they would leave those damn walls immediately.
She couldn't help but remember how the last time she had been there was the night in which she had almost lost Carina along with their baby.
And Carina knew her wife well enough to talk her out of staying in there to keep her company too much during the day.

The blonde carried Joy to the room she would share with Leslie once grown enough. While, for now, the crib got moved to the couple's bedroom so that they would be immediately there as soon as the baby would wake up crying or something.

"So this is your sister's bedroom, which one day hopefully will be also yours. Mommy would love you very much if you wouldn't attach all your pictures on the fresh paint, unlike she did." She sent a quick glare to the girl behind her making her chuckle.

Carina waited right outside in front of their bedroom leaning straight on the wall.
She could have stayed there, watching that exchange forever and never get tired of it, even if her legs were still sore and her back hurt like hell.
They were the family she never thought she needed and would have one day.
And now they were all there, together, safe.