Maya's ankle had been a problem ever since she was 18, running in the London Olympics. When she rolled it the night before the event, and then ran on it the next day, she did permanent damage.
Maya being Maya, she had a hard time resting. Sure, after the Olympics she took 3 weeks off as the doctor said, but her dad made her continue running after that.
Now, 10 years later, Maya's ankle was nowhere near 100%. Sure, she could walk fine, but running long distances were harder for her than they used to be.
However, on this particular call, Maya took one wrong step, and her ankle twisted almost all the way. She went down, letting out a cry of pain.
"Shit! Maya, what happened?" Andy asked, kneeling down next to her friend. "Twisted my ankle." Maya replied, voice strained. This wasn't an order sprain of her ankle, though, and she knew it.
"Your bad one?" Andy asked, helping Maya up onto her feet. "Yep." The blonde groaned, shifting her weight to her good foot.
"Can you get out of here on your own or do you need help?" The Latina questioned. "I'm good." The blonde firefighter said, limping heavily as she followed Andy out of the building.
Once the two were out of the fiery house, Maya gimped over to Ben, who was on triage. "Bishop, you good?" He asked, noticing the heavy limp.
"I did something to my ankle." Maya responded, trying to get up onto the gurney. Ben came over and helped her get situated before gently taking off Maya's boot, causing a whimper to escape.
"Ooh, that doesn't look great." Warren said, wincing at the already obvious black and blue, swollen ankle.
Maya groaned, throwing her head back onto the pillows and bringing the back her hands to cover her eyes. "We'll get you squared away, Maya. You'll be alright." Ben said, patting her shoulder affectionately.
•••
15 minutes later, Maya found herself in the ER of Grey-Sloan Memorial Hospital, waiting for Dr Lincoln to come see her.
"Hey, Schmitt," Maya called, getting the attention of the young doctor, "Can you page my wife?"
"Sure, Lieutenant." The doctor replied with a nod.
Maya sighed to herself. She knew this injury would definitely need treatment, that she couldn't just rest, ice, compression, and elevate her way through.
"Bambina." She heard a familiar voice call out, snapping her out of her thoughts. "Hey, babe." The firefighter smiled.
"What happened?" Carina asked, gently picking up the ice pack covering her wife's ankle and grimacing. "I landed on it wrong. Schmitt said he thinks I could've fully torn a few ligaments." Maya explained.
"I'm sorry, Bella." Carina said sympathetically, taking hold of her wife's hand. "Hey, guys, sorry to interrupt." Link said as he entered the room.
"So, since I know this an old injury, I want to take a CT first to check for any breaks or fractures, and then I want to get an MRI to check for any ligament tears. Do you want any pain meds to keep you comfortable while we take some pictures?" The orthopedic surgeon offered.
"Yeah, that would be good." Maya replied, her ankle throbbing the more she thought about it. An intern was quick to administer medication through her IV, and Maya quickly began feeling sleepy.
"Close your eyes, Bella. I'll wake you up when we're finished." Carina promised, pressing a kiss to Maya's forehead as she watched those beautiful blue eyes flutter shut.
•••
Maya woke up to someone shaking her shoulder, and she opened her eyes. "Wake up, Maya." She heard her wife whisper.
Maya sat up slightly, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. She noticed she was moved to a bed in her own room, out of the ER. "How bad is it?" Maya asked, looking at the doctor at the foot of her bed.
"There is one tiny stress fracture, which normally I would put you in a boot for a week or two and leave it there, but there's also several full ligament tears. I'm going to have to go in and repair them." Link explained with a sympathetic gaze.
Maya wasn't surprised. Surgery on her ankle was bound to happen at some point, it just sucked now that it finally was happening.
She felt Carina's supportively rubbing her thumb on the backside of Maya's hand. "Okay. When can you operate?" The firefighter asked.
"As soon as you're prepped and ready. My schedule is open for the rest of the day." He replied.
"How long will it take?" Carina asked. "Not long, probably about an hour given the severity of Maya's injury."
"Do you want me to wait until your off shift?" Maya asked, knowing Carina was still working for the next few hours. Carina shook her head. "Working will be a good distraction." She answered.
"Alright. I'll send some nurses in to prep you and make that ankle better than ever." Link said with a smile before turning and leaving.
"Are you okay?" Carina asked, meeting her wife's eyes. She knew that Maya was never one to stay still for long, and after everything that happened the last time Maya was admitted to the hospital, she was a little anxious.
"I'll be alright. I knew this ankle was gonna need surgery at some point. Are you okay?" The blonde questioned.
"I'm okay. Do you want me to call your team while you're in surgery?" Carina asked, to which Maya nodded.
The two sat in a comfortable silence while the nurses began prepping Maya, and before they knew it, Maya was off to the OR.
•••
Once Carina was off shift, she made a bee-line to Mayas room. Amelia had informed her that Maya was out of surgery just a few minutes prior, so she knew that her wife was most likely not awake just yet.
The last time Carina saw Maya in a hospital bed, Maya was refusing treatment, begging to be discharged, and insisting that she was fine and didn't need any help. It was hard to forget that moment, but as she looked at Maya now, she knew that that really wasn't her Maya. This is.
Carina's eyes traveled down to the heavy casting on Maya's ankle. She knew this injury would have Maya out of work for a while, along with being on desk duty for a while. However, she was glad that it was finally repaired.
A quiet moan had Carina moving closer to Maya's head. She grabbed her wife's hand and squeezed supportively. "Hi, bambina." Carina whispered, watching as Maya slowly opened her eyes.
"Hi," Maya whispered, her voice hoarse, "how did it go?" She asked, leaning in to the warmth of Carina's hand on her cheek.
"Everything went perfectly. Assuming recovery goes well, you'll be back on your feet in a few months." The Italian responded.
"Good." Maya mumbled, eyes closing once again. "Lay with me?" She asked suddenly.
"Maya, I don't want to hurt you." Carina argued weakly. "Here." Maya said, shifting her body but not moving her injured ankle.
Carina didn't argue this time; she climbed in the bed next to her wife and wrapped her arms around her. "Ti amo." Carina whispered.