18 going on 38

chapter 2

Carina was freaking out. She tried not to let it show too much, afraid to spook the young version of her wife, but this was bad.

Really bad.

Eighteen.

Fuck.

She was a little ashamed of the part of her mind that was relieved that she at least wasn't a minor in her head. But she might as well could be. The Maya sitting in front of her was shy and uncomfortable in her own skin, but still sweet. Oh so sweet. Carina tried to be mindful of what she knew about her family life, but she realised that her wife had hardly told her enough. She thought about all the times she had wished she could go back in time and pull Maya away from that home, from that life. Granted in that fantasy, she'd be 18 too.

This?

This was weird. She wanted to take care of Maya, but she was terrified she'd end up seeming like a maternal figure to her, that was the last thing she wanted.

She quickly shot a text to Amelia, briefly explaining what was going on and asked for advice on what to do next. She watched as Maya looked around their apartment with wide eyes, stopping in front of the chest of drawers by the front door. The blonde picked up her wallet and peaked inside.

"DeLuca-Bishop?" She asked, holding up her licence.

"DeLuca." She pointed to herself. "Bishop." She pointed to Maya. "DeLuca-Bishop." She gestured between them and Maya's eyebrows shot up.

"Yeah, of course, silly me."

"Not silly, bambina."

"And you're like...?"

"Like?" She asked.

"From?" Carina almost laughed, then she frowned, how sheltered was Maya? She'd never asked that before, she'd known immediately where Carina's name and accent was from.

"Italy."

"Italy." Maya repeated wistfully. "I've never left the states."

"Oh, but you have." Carina smiled. "You went to London in 2012."

She waited for Maya to make the connection, instead of the happy reaction she'd expected, a sullen look casted over her face.

"My plan was to go to Beijing in 2008." Carina never knew that. And it hurt more than she had expected to find out that Maya still kept some things hidden.

"Plans change." She shrugged with a smile but she could see that Maya did not agree with that sentiment.

"And did I...?"

"Gold, bambina." This time a smile lit up her face and she did a littlefist pump.

"Do we have video?"

"Ehm, it's on youtube." Maya looked like a question mark. "Right." She shook her head. "I'll find it for you, come here."

Maya followed her over to their desk area, and Carina quickly typed in the right search terms to find the video. Maya looked at everything in awe and Carina found it adorable.

"Here you go, just press the spacebar and it will start, and you can move the mouse back and forth over this line to skip ahead or back, no need to rewind anything." She showed her and chuckled when Maya gasped. "I'll be in the other room."

"You've seen it?" She asked.

"I, ehm, I've seen some of it. I'm very proud of you, Maya." She said, truth was she had tried watching it a couple of times, but the expression of pain was so evident on Maya's face that it had made her too sick. It was true that she was incredibly proud, however getting that medal had caused Maya so much pain, both physical and mental.