Home is wherever I'm with You

Broken Half

Directly set after Grey's Anatomy 17x07.

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It had been a long day.

A very, very long day.

It felt like a lifetime ago when Carina and Andrea had run into each other in the parking lot where he told her he recognized the vile woman who was suspected to be involved in child trafficking and had decided to follow her.

Their little 'action movie chase' went on for long and ended with the horrible woman in handcuffs and Andrew in the hospital with a stab wound.

Fortunately, Grey Sloan Memorial had a few of the best doctors in the country and they had managed to save Carina's little brother. He was intubated still, sure, but he was alive and well and, oh God, she couldn't be more grateful.

The Italian woman decided to take a little break from all the madness, stepping outside the hospital to get some coffee in her system. She was so exhausted, mentally and physically, that if she didn't drink some hot dark coffee, she was sure she'd just collapse right then and there.

Walking towards the coffee cart with Maya by her side, Carina looked at the sky, admiring the pink and orange hues it displayed as the sun began to set. Both woman formed in line, keeping their distance from the other two people in front of them.

"I'm going to call the station, be right back." Maya said placing her hand in the small of Carina's back.

The brunette nodded. "Bene. Black coffee?"

Looking up from her phone, the firefighter nodded before walking away. "Please."

Carina waited for her turn, placed her order for two small black coffees, paid for them and made sure to use hand sanitizer before grabbing the cups and walking towards her girlfriend.

"Hey, bella, everything okay at the station?" The Italian asked, offering Maya her coffee.

The blonde quickly grabbed her cup with her free hand, as the other still was wrapped around her cellphone, and took it to her lips, grateful she had removed her mask to talk over the phone.

She took a sip and moaned at the taste. "Mmmm, yes, everything's fine. Andy says the inspection went surprisingly well, even though the battalion chief found half of my squad asleep." She chuckled. "They're still busy with the fire downtown so she couldn't give me more details."

Carina hooked her finger around the elastic band keeping the disposable mask over her face and left it dangling from her ear, eager to take a sip of the hot beverage. "Are you sure you don't have to go? Andrea is doing fine now." She walked slowly to a bench, followed by Maya.

The blonde sat down, put her phone away in one of her SFD jacket pockets and wrapped both hands around the cup of steaming coffee to warm them up a bit. She waited for Carina to sit beside her to speak. "I told you, I'm not going anywhere. Andy is in charge, she knows what to do. They don't need me right now. You do." She reached out to hold Carina's free hand with one of her own and squeezed it.

The brunette smiled and leaned into the firefighter, resting her temple on her girlfriend's shoulder. "Grazie mille, amore mio." She muttered with a heavy breath.

Maya leaned in as well, resting her head over Carina's. "There's nothing to thank for."

They stayed like that for a few moments, only moving their cups to and away from their lips as they continued to enjoy their coffees. Carina straightened up and locked her gaze on Maya's profile, who was looking into the distance with a pensive gesture on her face.