The Sun Will Come Out

Chapter 8

Maya's POV
Today was the day. The day that Jess and Iris would be able to come home.

The kids were so excited they could barely contain themselves. I could tell Carina was excited, but something seemed to be bothering her.

"Everything okay, Car?" I asked her as she stood across the room grabbing her stomach.

"Yea I'm okay," she responded, not meeting my eyes.

"Carina," I said sternly. "You know I can tell when you're lying to me. Seriously, what is it? Is it taking the kids home that's worrying you?"

Carina shook her head. "I'm just not feeling the best today," she said.

I placed my hand on her forehead to check if her temperature was normal. "You don't have a fever," I said. "What's bothering you? Stomach, throat, head?"

"Stomach," she said, looking down. "I'll be back in a minute." She left the room leaving me very confused.

"Carina wait," I said as I went to follow her. By the time I got into the hallway, she had disappeared.

"Did you see where Doctor DeLuca just went?" I asked the nurse who was updating Iris's chart.

"Yea she just sprinted that way," she said, pointing to the left.

"I think she probably went to the bathroom, she looked like she was about to be sick," she added.

"Thanks Cindy," I said as I turned the direction she had pointed. "Can you do me a favor? Watch the kids to make sure nothing happens while I'm gone."

Cindy nodded her head in acknowledgment, fixating her eyes on Iris's room instead of the chart.

When I felt confident the kids were in good hands, I started towards the closest bathroom.

"Carina?" I said, nocking on the door.

Suddenly, I heard vomiting on the other side of the door. I checked the door, and sure enough it was unlocked.

I rushed in, closing the door behind me. Carina was on her knees, throwing up into the toilet.

I bundled her hair out of her face and rubbed her back. She didn't push me away, which is how I knew this was a big thing.

After a few minutes, she had completely emptied out her stomach and couldn't throw up any longer. She continued to sit in front of the toilet in case she threw up again but moved her head back.

"Are you okay?" I asked softly while meeting her eyes. She nodded but kept her eyes down.

"Carina, you can't lie to me. I want to take care of you."

"Nothing's wrong, bellina," Carina said. "I don't think anyway."

I looked at her, confused. "What're you talking about?"

She took my hands in hers. "Maya," she started, her eyes glistening with tears.

"Remember a couple weeks ago when we did our first artificial insemination treatment?" I nodded, not gathering what that had to do with this.

After a few seconds of eye contact, I finally realized what she was trying to tell me.

"You're," I started, my voice breaking. "You're pregnant?"

"Sì, bambina," she cried happily. I felt my tears of joy falling over my cheeks uncontrollably.

"Why didn't you tell me before?" I asked finally.

"I just found out this morning," she said simply. "I thought I was just getting a stomach bug but when I started having tenderness in my breasts, I thought I should check."

I couldn't stop smiling at the thought of her dreams coming true.

"But what about Jess and Iris?" I asked slowly.

"What about them?" she replied, her eyes somehow softening more.

"Does this change how you feel about bringing them home?" I put forth.

"Maya," se said, taking my hands in hers. "Those two kids are our babies. Nothing will change my mind about that, bellina."

She leaned in for a kiss before I pushed her back slightly. "Carina, I love you, but I am NOT kissing you after you just threw up," I said, laughing.

"Oh fine, just don't love me then," she replied, pretending to be upset.

I kissed her on the cheek. "I do love you, Carina," I said, kissing her nose this time.

She made her cute little scrunched face she does, making my heart flutter. "We should get back to the kids, si?" she suggested.

I nodded while standing up and helping her to her feet, planting another kiss on her cheek.

We walked the short distance back to Iris's room hand in hand, both grinning wildly.

"Someone just found out some good news," Jess commented as we entered the room.

"Care to share with us?" she asked slyly. I looked at Carina and then back at Jess.

"We'll tell you soon, kiddo," I said, earning a confused glance from Carina. She didn't comment on my reply, though.

Just as I said that, Jackson entered the room holding a couple different charts, Jess and Iris's I assumed.

"Alright then," he said while looking at Jess and Iris. "Looks like the two of you are ready to go home."

Both kids squealed in excitement.

"Maya and Carina, mind joining me in the hall? There's some papers you need to sign."

We both nodded. "Iris, get changed while we're doing the paperwork, okay sweetheart?" I instructed as we walked out the door and began to close it.

"Okay," I heard them groan from their bed. Jackson, Carina, and I all chuckled at the sound.

"Mind telling me why we aren't telling the kids right now about the baby?" Carina asked me as we stood by the desk. I looked over at Jackson.

"It's fine, he already knows," she said. "I had him rush the test when I was waiting for my results."

I nodded in understanding. "I don't want the kids to think we're going to give them up when we've barely just took them in. I wanted to wait for them to get settled in first," I explained.

"I also don't want them to get their hopes up for the baby should something happen to it," I added.

"That's fine with me," she smiled.

Third person POV
They both read over the discharge paperwork carefully, signing where needed.  After what felt like such a long time, the couple signed the last paper together.

They met eyes and both smiled, ready to start their next step.

"Let me go get changed and we can go home," Carina said to Maya.

"Chief Bailey is giving me a few days off to help the bambines settle it. It's almost like an adopter's maternity leave."

The two women chuckled before sharing a soft kiss. Carina walked away with a bit of a pep in her step as she went to get changed.

A/N- he y'all! I've been working on this chapter in all of my free time the last few days, but this is all I could manage to get out for now. Sorry it's so short, but I promise I'll be pushing out long chapters soon. I'll be writing and publishing a lot more on weekends than during the week, so expect an update at least every weekend (I don't really have a set schedule besides that tbh)