Home is wherever i'm with you

We let the world pass by for forever

Maya pulled up at the hospital and ran up to the day care. She smiled as she saw Carina already dressed and ready. They went to pick up the girls and then go home. "Hi, how was your day?" Maya asked. "It was great. Not too stressfull, but not boring." "Thats great." "And you?" "It was good, too. I have some news. Maybe we can talk about them when the girls are in bed." "Oh okay.?" Carina pulled her eyebrows up. "Nothing bad, i promise. " Maya smiled and then turned to the Kathy one of the Daycare workers.

"Hi. We are here for Meena, Louise and Ellie." Kathy nodded and got the girls. Meena came running to them. "Mamma. Mommy." she yelled. "Hey ladybug." Maya said and kneeled down to her daughters level to give her a hug. Louise hugged Carinas legs. "Missed you today, Mamma." she said. "I missed you, too, Birdy." Carina kissed her daughters head and then brushed over Meenas hair. "How was daycare?" "Dood. So dood." Meena said. Kathy came back with Ellie in her arms, who was already making grabing motions towards her parents. "Hey, Ellie Belle." Maya said and took her. "Did you have a great day?" Maya asked. Ellie just put her head in the crook of Mayas neck. "Ellie'n me play with colour." Meena explained. Kathy nodded. "Thats right. Meena and Ellie drew big pictures with paint today. They are still drying so you can pick them up the next time you are here." "And what did you do, Louise?" Carina asked. "Hm?" the toddler thought. "Play dessup wit Annie." Kathy nodded. "We have  taken out the dressup drawer again and they loved it." "Petty Pincess." Louise said. "Yes. Indeed." Maya said and took Louises hand. "You are a pretty princess." They took the girls bags and left the daycare.

At home Carina got started on dinner and Maya did some laundry, while the girls played in the living room. When dinner was ready, they all sat around the table and ate. Carina had made some pasta with tomato sauce and the girls loved it. They had gotten some adaptive cuttlery and table set for Ellie and with that she could nearly feed herself. Maya helped her a little bid, and it was a big mess, but Meena and Louise made big messes, too. They are toddlers after all. Meena told them all about her day as usuall, while Louise was more quiet. After they were done, they got the girls ready for bed. When both of them were home for bedtime, the girl who had to have a bath got to pick the adult to have it with. If just one of them was home, they took the other two to the bathroom with them and had them play or listen to the toney box while their sister had the bath. Today it was Louises turn and she picked Carina. Which was not a surprise, Louise was very fixed on her Mamma right now, but Maya wasn't mad. She loved seeing her daughter with her wife and their bond. While Louise had her bath Maya did the dishes and Ellie and Meena were in the living room playing. When Maya was done, she joined the girls and played with them, but also did some stretches and PT exercises with Ellie. She had PT 3 times a week and OT 2 times a week, therapies beiing the most helpfull thing with cerebral palsy. After the bath they changed the girls into Pyjamas. Meena and Louise wanted to do most things themselves now, but still needed help sometimes. When all of them were done, they snuggled in the pillow corner of the girls room and read some books. Usually three one for each girl. Then they went to bed and got to listen to some piano tunes on the toney box for half an hour. But they usually don't make it past 10 minutes.

"I love our evenings, when we are all home." Carina said. Maya nodded. They changed into comfortable clothes themselves and got settled on the sofa. Carina got herself and Maya a glass of wine and then snuggled into Mayas embrace. "You wanted to talk about something." Maya nodded. "The chief was at the station today." "Okay?" Carina looked questionigly. "She told me, if i want i am in the running for battalion chief." "What?" Maya nodded. "What would that mean?" "Well, I have to explain a little how this works. Hm. So Seattle is seperated in Battalions and the Battalions are seperated in Stations. Each Station had one captain, the Captain has a corresponding shift, and all the other shifts have a Lieuteanant, who is acting captain for them. At 19 we have a meeting every other week and if one of my shifts has a problem, i will captain for example C-Shift for a few shifts to resolve the problem. The Battalion Chiefs are usually 4 people who take care of one battalion. They supervise stations and do inspections and read over budgetreports. Protocols and all paper work stuff. One Battalion Chief is always on call, and when there is a 3, 4 or 5 alarm fire, they get called in. They take over incident comand or in case of a 5 alarm, the help the Fire Chief. Thats the boss off all. Chief Ross. So being Battalion chief would mean more regular hours, exept for the on call hours. I could work form 19 or i could work from home. Budget reports and inspections reports are a lot of desk work and exept for the bigger fires, I wouldn't be at fires anymore. And even  at the big fires, i am usually on the outside. I'd be safer and i'd make more money." "I didn't understand everything, but it sounds great. Exept you love fighting fires." "I do, but not that much anymore. I am getting old." Carina chuckled. "You are not old, what would that make me?" Maya smiled. "No. I just... I am still going to fight fires, just not as often. But the big ones i'll be fighting will hold me over to the next one." "Okay. What is going to happen now?" Carina caresed Mayas Hand. "Well, now i am in the running. I have to write a test. Its like to see if you know all the math and finance stuff. I think i can do it, but it is already on the 27th of July. Its a tuesday. Until then i'd have to studdy a lot and work my ass off. The board and the fire chief are going to shadow my calls, check my every move. They'll choose the new Battalion Chief within the first weeks of August, so until then it will be stressfull and thats why i have to discuss it with you. Our lives are already stressfull, we have three todlers, and all of Ellies therapys and everything. I thought we could ask my mom to come and help us out, but we don't have a guest room for her. " "That all sounds like a lot of work." Carina said and sighed. "I want you to take the chances you get. I mean that you are in the running is already amazing and it sounds like the SFD is changing atleast a little. And it would be awesome to have a little more regulated scedule." Maya nodded. "I just don't know how we are going to do it until then." "Well its two months. I can work a little less in those two months, a few people ow me and then we can hire a babysitter. For the evenings i am working and you aren't. You can pick up the girls and then meet the babysitter here. They can do dinner and bedtime and you have time to studdy and then you can kiss the girls good night and they can keep an eye on the girls, so you have more time to studdy or go over reports. You'd be home in case something is seriously wrong, but you would not need to watch them." "Thats actually not a bad idea." Maya smiled. "I am sure we will find someone." Carina kissed Mayas forehead. "Chief Deluca-Bishop. Sounds great." Carina said and laughed. "I am not there yet."