The date had been different but everything both women wanted, they'd had their first kiss and the days following had a certain sparkle to it. For Carina, the births she assisted felt calmer, and for Maya, she found herself smiling while making coffee. That smile has definitely been claimed by the brunette.
But Maya knew that at any point the happiness could come crashing down, something would cause some kind of anguish and she was right. Three days after the confrontation, she heard about Andy being caught. Although she was relieved, in a weird way she felt sorry for Andy.
For Andy, she hated life. She hated her ex-husband, she hated the station, and she hated Maya. She hated Maya because she knew that if Maya was still at the station, she would never have started dealing with drugs, Maya wouldn't have allowed it. Her meeting with McAllister was short, he'd told her the next few steps and left, he'd called the police and she'd spent the next two days in a cell at the police station. She recognised the cell, she'd had a moment of passion in that very cell years ago, it didn't bring her a smile anymore like it would have done.
Within that very meeting, McAllister asked her how long the drug dealing had gone on for, she'd lied and said more than a year. In the moment, she was pissed, and her target had always been Maya. She wanted Maya to still suffer under her wrath. Which for Maya, meant receiving a formal letter from a court of justice.
"I just don't get why I've been summoned. If I don't attend, I could get arrested Carina, arrested" Maya complained, Carina was sitting in her living room. Noah's gran had taken a turn for the worse, so he'd planned on staying with her for the foreseeable future, leaving Maya without any help. Carina (being the angel she was) began helping Maya out as much as she could. Despite wanting to be close to Maya, she'd started to become overwhelmed with responsibility.
"It sounds like you need to go, Bella." Carina replied, she cuddled into Maya. The takeout was left half-eaten as they snuggled into each other, communicating only by innocent kisses. Old timey music played in the background from the record player Maya had thrifted a week after buying the place. She liked the idea of the 60s romance, of the songs that either came from the decade or had that feel. The likes of Bobby Vee and Dean Martin rarely left the player.
"A full day in court surrounded by people who hate me, that's not going to be fun" Maya mumbled, Carina felt her voice vibrate as she laid on top of her, her hands were underneath Maya's sweater, she could feel each breath.
"I'll be there, so that's one person who definitely does like like you" Carina flirted, Maya pulled her up so that those innocent kisses could be replaced with kisses that definitely weren't so innocent.
-
The day in court was something that Maya anticipated as highly stressful but with Carina by her side, she didn't feel so stressed. They stood together; their hands held tightly. They were only a few feet away from the team, awkward stares were shared. A man started individually calling different members in. Eventually Maya's name was called, Carina's hand softly stroked Maya's lower back encouraging her to walk, and she did.
Entering the room felt alien, the remaining seat was between Vic and Ben, the two people that she didn't feel as uncomfortable with.
"Let's get started. On the 27th, Chief McAllister reported an incident where Captain Herrera held illegal drugs, particularly Cocaine. A brief conversation between the Chief and Andy Herrera revealed accusations that everyone in this room helped her at some point." Maya couldn't quite believe that Andy had lied. "In a minute, the men in this room will individually interview all of you. Thank you" The judge spoke.
The team looked towards each other, they looked terrified. Maya felt like she could laugh, without Vic's inside information, she would have easily been able to pick the guilty out of the innocent.
"Maya Bishop" her name was called out first, with a shaky breath she stood up. "Follow me please" The man led her out of the room, she had a brief view of Carina who smiled towards her before her eyes drifted back to her phone. She trudged slowly into the small office.
"As the judge explained, I'll ask a few questions about your involvement. This'll go quickly if you tell the truth" Mr Watson explained. Maya nodded, on the other side of the wall Carina was stuck thinking of how she could brighten up Maya's day. Could she cook for her? Could she plan a spontaneous trip somewhere?
"From my understanding, you left your captaincy two years ago. My first question, were you aware of any drugs being present during your time as Captain?" The man asked, his hands drifted to his keyboard as he waited for an answer.
"I wasn't aware of any drugs. From my understanding, everything that happened was after I'd already left." Maya truthfully stated.
"After you left your position as Captain, did you visit the station?" The man asked, truthfully it sounded like a stupid question.
"I didn't get on with the team, they felt as if I'd taken the job out from under Andy's feet. I didn't stand up for Andy's husband after he'd OD'd in my station" Maya replied.
"In your opinion, how much time had passed between Robert Sullivan's hearing and the end of your captaincy?" Mr Watson probed.
"6 months, I believe" Maya bluntly explained, her fingers drummed against her thighs as she tried to concentrate. The room was warm, the clock was ticking too loudly, and the muttering of the man across from her as he typed with a single finger was overwhelming.
"Until this moment, were you aware of any drug-based events happening at Station 19?" Mr Watson finally asked a question that worried her.
"A week or so ago, one of the members of the team walked into my Bakery and asked to speak to me. She told me that Captain Herrera had threatened the other team members into giving Robert Sullivan drugs. Captain Herrera would supply the drug and the team would take turns giving it to Sullivan. From my understanding, she would blackmail members with homelessness, calls to I.C.E." Maya's breath felt thick as the man opposite her started to type with more fingers, at a quicker pace than before.
"Why didn't you report what you had been told?" he asked, he continued to type the last answer.
"Honestly, I didn't know what to do. The event with Herrera and McAllister happened approximately 2 days after I'd found out myself." Mr Watson nodded.
"Okay, I have everything I need at this moment. I may need to contact you again. Do you still reside at the address the first letter was sent to?" He asks his final question, Maya nods and stands to leave. As she walks through the doorway she sees the rest of the team, Vic was sat on a wooden bench being consoled by Ben and Travis. Jack stood in the corner near a metal bin, his hand covered his mouth as he rocked back in forth, stress obviously had overwhelmed him.
"Are you finished?" Carina asked her, she'd somehow sneaked up on her and had stood there for quite a few seconds before she felt like she'd have to say something. Maya nodded; their hands snaked around each other as they hugged. Maya pecked Carina's neck, choosing to tighten her arms around Carina for a few seconds.
Eventually, they parted and started to walk out of the humungous courthouse. A moment, neither woman had expected happened. An annoyed, scared Andy Herrera walked past them; she was handcuffed. Maya couldn't quite believe her eyes. Right behind Andy was Robert, he towered over the police escorting them, the usual grimace carved its way onto his face as he recognised Maya, she felt the urge to smile, and she did. She wanted to applaud the stupidity of the two but held back.
-
The drive to Maya's apartment felt different again. Everything had been feeling different, neither could quite understand why. The stairs up to her apartment felt easy to climb, Carina's usual stitch didn't find her abs, she felt fine. Maya had given her keys to Carina, she stood behind the brunette, her hands found Carina's torso, they started to explore her abs. This subsequently and momentarily caused a distraction, but Carina was hungry, and the sound of her stomach rumbling was something she wanted to hide from the blonde for as long as possible.
Her stomach satisfied she found Maya sitting on her couch, falling into Maya's lap felt right.
"Could I plan a second date?" Maya whispered, she didn't look at Carina, her eyes remained on the fireplace in front of her.
"You could, you definitely could but you don't need to" Carina replied, she grabbed Maya's hand and started to draw shapes on Maya's palm, finding it amusing every time Maya would attempt to pull her hand away.
"I do need to" Maya argued, her eyes shifted over to Carina's side profile.
"Bella, you've won my over. If you want to pay for dinner, I'll fight you" Carina teased, she pointed towards Maya in an apparently threatening way.
"What if I wanted to cook for you?" Maya asked, her mind started to filter different ideas.
"Your cooking sucks" Carina replied potentially a little too quickly. Carina looked up and saw a not-so pleased look. "You are good at baking, that's something" Carina tried to save it, she really did try but Maya's facial expression didn't change.
"You like me, you can't be mad" Carina ruled, internally giving herself a high five when a small smile broke out across the blonde's face.
"You're not meant to know that" Maya muttered. Feeling this comfortable felt strange to her, unnatural. She'd never felt this way before.
"Maybe you should be better at hiding it" Carina advised.
"So, you want me to hide it? No longer kiss you? No longer invite you here? Bar you from the bak-" her plans of asking endless questions to annoy Carina had gone out the window. Carina had won, a single kiss derailed Maya's thoughts. Her favourite thing to do, her favourite body that'd still been left unexplored, maybe this was her chance.
As Carina pulled her face back, Maya continued to try and chase hers.
"Is this the only way I'll ever be able to shut you up" Carina spoke, she'd straddled Maya's lap. She softly poked Maya's cheek as she spoke.
"Maybe. I like this way" Maya lurched forward as she finished her sentence. Her hands instantly found Carina's waist as she in turn pulled Carina towards her.