Maya~
"Hey, any chance there's a Target or Walmart nearby? I want to pick up some stuff?" I ask Ryan as he pulls away from the arrival terminal at the airport.
Everything worked out because I've worked three nights in a row so now I'm obligated three days off. I took advantage of the opportunity and ran with it.
"Yeah, there's a Target on the way to his place. I'll stop."
"Thanks."
"No problem. How was your flight?"
"Fine. I got stuck in the middle and I didn't sleep."
"I didn't want to say anything but you look tired."
"Thanks."
He laughs, "Why are you tired?"
"I worked last night."
"He was telling me you were working nights."
I shrug, "I switch back and forth. When you guys come back, I'll stick to day shift."
"Just passing the time?"
"Yeah, seems like it. It just so happened that I'm off for the next three days. Everything worked out this time."
"Hopefully, you don't have to save a life on your way out."
"I don't mind it when I'm at work but I'd appreciate it if I didn't have to while flying."
"Hey, open your garage door," Ryan tells Christian over the phone.
"What?" he asks.
"Just open it, please. I have something for you."
"Ryan, what did you do?"
"Nothing. The kids, Larisa, and I have something for you. Get out here."
Christian ends the call abruptly. I stand in front of Ryan's car. Soon enough he opens the garage door. "What's going on?" he asks before he can see me.
"Surprise," I say.
"Oh my gosh. Are you kidding me?"
He hugs me, "Every time you don't answer me, I'll assume you're on a plane."
I laugh, "Did you really think I would miss this?"
He kisses me, "I was hoping you wouldn't."
I stand by him, holding my arm around him, "You two are sneaky."
"We work well together," Ryan tells him and I nod, agreeing with his statement.
"This is the second time you've done this to me within four months."
"Don't be so easy to surprise."
I walk into the kitchen as Christian puts a bag of popcorn in the microwave. I stood behind him, hugging him as he watched the microwave. "Get settled?"
I nod against his back, "Yeah."
He turns around, "Tired?"
"Yeah."
He moves pieces of my hair out of my face, "Why?"
"I worked last night."
"Last night? So you got done this morning?"
"Yes. 7-7."
"Are you going to stop working nights when I come back? Because I'll be selfish and admit that I would like to see you."
I laugh, "Yeah. And you're not the only one that wants me back on day shift."
"Bridget?"
"Yeah. She gets bored without me."
"I expect nothing less."
He takes the popcorn out of the microwave and pours it into a bowl for us. We move to the couch. He puts on a movie. "Did you sleep at all?"
I shake my head, "No."
"How long have you been up?"
I look at my watch to see what time it is. 3:30 in Phoenix. 4:30 in Milwaukee. I got up at 4 yesterday. "A little over a day."
"Maya."
"What? I woke up at 4. Went to work at 6. Worked from 7-7. I had to go to your apartment and pick up some stuff that I left there and needed. Scared your brother again. Went home and finished packing before leaving for the airport. I didn't sleep on the plane because I was stuck in the middle and my body doesn't like to sleep on planes."
"So you're going to crash at like 6 tonight?"
"We'll see. I've had a lot of coffee and Bridget brought me an energy drink this morning so I didn't fall asleep."
We move to lie down on the couch yet both of us still are an arm's length away from the bowl of popcorn. "I really can't believe you're here."
"I was excited that it worked out this well."
He kisses me before moving behind me. He lets me relax into him. His hand snakes around my body and holds me.
For the last six weeks, all I've wanted is to be close to him. It's all I've needed. "What's the plan for tomorrow?"
"I need to be there around 7. If you don't want to get up with me, my mom would probably pick you up."
"I'll go with you."
I secure the back of my earrings in place as I walk out to his living room after getting ready. I set my jacket over one of the stools under the island.
Christian walks in from the garage, "Are you ready?"
"Yeah."
He comes over to me, touching my hip and messing with the fabric of my black romper, "I like this. You should wear this more often."
"I'll think about it."
He kisses me, "I have our coffee order ready to be picked up once we leave."
"Okay. Is there a timeline for today?"
He opens the car door for me before getting in on the other side, "The execs and I are meeting before the press conference. The press conference is at 10. After that, I get to play baseball. I think my mom made a dinner reservation with us and some of the guys."
I nod, listening to him but also finding some music to play. "Can you place our order?" he asks, handing his phone to me.
I read our Starbucks order aloud, "Is that right?"
"Yeah."
"And the one on Camelback Road?"
"Yeah."
I placed our order and put his phone in one of the cup holders. He waits for me to get done texting Bridget.
"Sorry, something is going on at work." I put my phone down and hold his hand.
When we get to Starbucks, I volunteer to get our drinks. "Don't forget a straw."
I take my phone in with me since I have a good feeling Bridget will be calling me soon. I look for our drinks but they're not ready yet so I wait back against a wall.
As expected my phone starts buzzing in my hand. "Hey, what's going on?"
"Is this a bad time? It's probably early for you."
"You're fine. I'm picking up our drinks. What's going on?"
"There's been an accident on the 794 but for whatever reason, they're having a very hard time getting people out. Julia is asking if we can go out and treat people before extricating them."
Our drinks are set on the counter. "How bad? They should be able to extricate them. They've never had a problem before."
I put our drinks in a carrier before walking out of the store. I hold my phone between my ear and shoulder as I open the car door, "I guess there's gas all over the highway. They can't use the machine..."
"Because it'll explode."
"Yeah. So while they wait for the city to get water on the scene, they want us to come out and help. Maya, you would know what to do. I don't know what to do."
Christian takes the carrier from me so I'm able to get in. "You need to stay at the hospital. Call everyone in that is on-call."
"I already did that."
"Where's Sydney?"
"She's going out there with the team. She put me in charge of figuring out said team."
"Send Adrian and Liv."
"What about Katie?"
"No, she needs to stay. She's pregnant."
"What?"
"She just told me. You can't send her out there. No one else knows. Whoever the trauma resident is needs to go. Plus Sydney. Start with them. Add more if you need to."
"Okay."
"Now the firefighters and city workers are going to be rude and get in their way. You all have jobs to do. No fire. No oxygen until the gas is gone. The fire department should have different masks for them. If they start feeling lightheaded, they need to get out. Tell them to do their best. If it's not perfect, it's fine. I have a binder at the station with emergency response codes. Every possible situation is listed in there. Just go off of that and you should be fine."
"And I should stay?"
"Somebody has to man the ER."
"Right. Okay. Thank you."
"You're welcome. Look, I don't want to come back to a part of my staff sick with poisoning or worse. Tell them to be careful."
"I will."
After I hung up, I searched to see if there was any live coverage of the accident. I need to see what they're heading into. "What's going on?"
"There's a bad accident on 794. They have to send out a team."
"How bad?"
"Looks like one semi, one tanker, and a couple of cars that are smashed. There's gas everywhere."
"Well, I'm glad you're here and not there."
"I wouldn't be the one going out with them."
"Why not?"
"Because they need somebody who can run an ER."
"And you can't let anyone else do that."
"Exactly."
Christian puts his hand on my leg and leans in closer to me as I stack my plates on top of each other, "Are you ready?"
"Whenever you're ready to leave. I'm in no rush."
"I want to get out of here."
"Okay."
He stacks his plates on top of mine. "I'm going to head to the bathroom."
He takes my small wallet before I get up to find my way around the restaurant. I use the bathroom quickly.
After washing my hands, I straighten up my appearance. I should've brought different shoes. I'm not made for wearing dressy shoes all day. I'm not made for wearing anything dressy all day.
Christian meets me by the door. "That was fast," I tell him.
"I do have practice and a game so they understood."
He lets me go through the door before him. When we get to his car, I take my shoes off immediately. "Do we need to stop anywhere?"
"I don't think so."
He drives away from the restaurant. A lot of great things happened today. I think he's still in a sort of shock that it happened. I think I'm in shock for him.
He gets to stay in Milwaukee for the rest of his career. I'm so happy for him. Not just because of us as a couple but because he's earned it. He's been loyal to Milwaukee.
And honestly, I'd hate to see him go. Where would that lead us? I can't necessarily follow him wherever. I have a stable job. I love my job. I wouldn't want to leave.
Maybe this is a conversation that needs to be had. I'll sit on it for a bit to weigh it out in my head. It's not a big deal right now but it might become a big deal one day.
Coming out of the shower, I grab a towel from the hook and dry my body. I grab a smaller towel and wrap my hair. I turn on the fan to reduce the steam. I get dressed into my pajamas before rubbing my hair with a towel to remove any excess water.
I hang both towels on the back of the door before brushing out my hair. I turned my music down as I finished getting ready for bed.
I crack the door open to let more steam out. I brush my teeth before shutting the light off and leaving the door closed. I toss my dirty clothes next to my suitcase so I can deal with that when I pack.
I walk out of the closet to see Christian sitting on the edge of the bed, kind of hunched over. He's not on his phone. He's just sitting there. "What's going on?"
He glances up at me and chuckles, "It's all finally hitting me. I didn't get much time to let it sink in."
I sit next to him as he clasps his hands together in front of him. "I didn't get much time to process it because I wasn't sure if it was happening for the longest time. We went through everything today and it actually happened. Everyone that's close to me got to see it and be a part of it."
I put my hand on his shoulder, leaning into him, "You deserve it," I tell him quietly.
He looks back at me and smiles, "I'd like to think I can be cocky to believe that."
I laugh, "Only a little bit though."
He kisses me. "I'm proud of you and I love you," I tell him.
He smiles, "I am never going to get tired of hearing you say that."
"How was A-Z?" Bridget asks me, coming around the corner into the nurse's station.
I continued typing an email, "It was good. We had dinner one just us and then another dinner with his family and some friends and teammates. I went to his games and sat with his mom."
"How's that going?"
"It's good now. We don't have any problems so I won't complain."
She nods. "You never told me about how that accident turned out," I say, sending out my email.
"I didn't want to bother you. But everything went well. Everyone made it out alive. We transferred two to Madison so it was close to home for them. The others were discharged within hours of us receiving them."
"Good, I'm glad."
He waits next to me, "Also, when were you going to tell me about Katie?" she asks quietly.
I look around the area. "She found out on one of our night shifts. No one else knows except for me and now you."
"It's a secret?"
"She hasn't told anybody. She took a test here and came to me while I was sitting here charting. She was scared out of her mind. She showed it to me and I did a blood test because she wasn't certain. I figured out the ultrasound machine and did one for her."
"Can you do that?"
"Who's going to tell me I can't?"
She shrugs. "So I don't know if anyone else knows or what she's planning on doing. She asked me not to say anything but I had to if you were going to send her out when she shouldn't have gone out to the field."
She nods, "I won't say anything."
"I know you won't. You needed to know the situation. And I know you would do the same for me."
"You're right, I would. Well, I did. Would do it again."
"Are you done?"
She laughs, "I guess. Are you on day shift for good?"
"I have a few more next week but after that, I'm done. I won't work consecutive night shifts while Christian's in season."
"Good because I like it when you're here with me. You give some sanity to the ER and I don't love being the boss. You're much better at it."
"I won't deny that statement but I think you're too hard on yourself."
"No, the ER runs much smoother with you."
"You always say that but whenever I get back, it runs fine and looks fine."
"Take the compliment."
"Fine."
I take one of the tablets from the charging station. "So when does Christian get back?"
"April 3rd or 4th. I can't remember. They start in Chicago and then come up here."
"Are you going to go down?"
"Maybe. It's a day game."
"I'll go with you."
"So now you want both of us to be gone at the same time?"
"I'll allow it just this time."
"I'll remember that. I don't know, I need to check with Christian because I'm sure he has tickets for his family."
"And us?"
I laugh, "Probably."
"I mean, come on, he's a millionaire."
"More than just that. He's literally set for life."
"Lucky you?"
"You know that's why I'm not in this, right?"
"Obviously I know that. But you can't hide from it."
"No, I can't."
"But?"
"No buts. I can't hide from it but it does make me uncomfortable."
"Why?"
"Well, for starters, that's why his mom thought I was dating him. Secondly, I love my job and I don't want to change anything about that. And if we end up married and all that, I feel like he'll think he'll need to provide for me when I can do it myself."
"You have too much time on your hands to think about that."
"Maybe I do. But can't you see him doing that?"
She nods, "Yeah, I can. Because I don't see him living up here year-round."
"Exactly. Like what the hell am I supposed to do? I love this job. I don't want to leave this job."
"That's a conversation you'll have to have."
I sigh, "I know. I'm just trying to figure it out."
I hand her a tablet, "There's a head lac in exam room 4. Would you mind doing that? I need to do inventory on so much stuff because it hasn't been done."
"Who's job is that?"
"Who do you think?"
"Yours?"
"No. Sydney's."
"Yeah, I got it. Mind if I assign cases to people?"
"Go for it. I'll be in the stock room. I know we're running low on a lot of things."
"Okay."