The best is yet to come

I will always come back to this

- August 7th 2023 -

Hearing the click of the door was probably the best feeling Maya had had in the past 38 hours, as her hand turned the key to open it.
She was immediately greeted by the perfume of pasta and tomatoes, red wine and shampoo.
She didn't even bother the noise her backpack made as soon as it went in contact with the floor when she let it fall.
She sighed heavily before walking across the entrance and towards the kitchen.
It was unexplicably quiet, so she couldn't quite picture why there was such a scent when noone was running around the house, whether it was a crawling toddler or a late in the morning teenager.
But then the blonde remembered it was close to 9 AM which meant that Leslie probably had already left to go to Tyler's and Carina was maybe out with Joy for a walk, knowing that her shift wouldn't start 'till noon. Still, the smell of pasta and wine wasn't that amusing first thing in the morning.

She didn't even see Bah, maybe Carina had brought him out too.
The Fire Chief made her way upstairs towards the bedroom without even walking across the livingroom and had to force herself to not let her exhausted body fall on the bed but almost crawled to the bathroom to wash away her eventful shift.

Funny thing, being the Battalion Chief. She finally had short shifts, tons of papers to fill but no dangers, no sudden calls to wake her up in the middle of the night and most important of all, lots lots of free time to spend with her family.
She had passed the test three weeks earlier and now little Joy had started to grab any object that would be left around the house, Leslie's last year of school had finished and she was already applying for colleges, still unsure of her final choice.
Zeus was already taller than their little kid and Carina had managed to decorate every inch of their new house.
And they were extremely happy.

As soon as the water had started to flow, a shiver awakened Maya, who was almost falling asleep standing in the shower.
She let her body rest on the cold tiles holding herself up with both her hands.
Her eyes closed for a brief moment and images that she hoped wouldn't come back to her mind again, eventually did. She shook her head to avoid thinking too much about them and cleaned her body with Carina's shower gel.

After about half an hour she was already dressed up for the bed, comfy shorts and tanktop, her now again short hair tied in a low ponytail.
The sheets, the materess and the pillow felt like a soft cloud under her aching body when she finally laid down on bed, but still Carina's body was missing. She hoped her wife would come back not too late, but her eyes eventually gave in and closed making her dive in a deep sleep.

She felt a quiet noise, but being asleep under both her daughters and dog didn't actually wake her up. She knew that Leslie had planned to go to her boyfriend's that morning cause they wanted to go on a short trip and she also knew that Joy probably needed feeding, but the aching worry in her chest and heart didn't even move her an inch.

It was eventually Joy's fuss that immediately woke her, feeling the girl on the verge of a loud crying session. The brunette held her up from her lap, to make her rest the head on Carina's shoulder and soothe her.
She didn't want to wake Leslie, knowing that the previous night she had waited till around 5 am for her mother to come back home, she had warned her boyfriend they wouldn't go anywhere anyway.

Maya had texted they were being called first to a fire in a mall two hours before the end of her 24 hours shift. She still had to do one every two weeks to keep a closer look on the Fire house. But Andy was always doing good as a Captain and Maya couldn't care less of treating them like babies when they were totally capable of taking care of each other.
Still, she had to work for a whole day and as soon as she read the text, the italian knew her wife would be late for dinner.

Leslie had immediately asked what was wrong, seeing her mother's worried look towards the phone.
And as soon as Carina's answer came to her ears, the girl was already on the couch, TV turned on. The news were already showing the bad situation on scene, especially because the mall was a quite big structure and lots of people were inside.