Photograph ( Marina )

Chapter Thirty-Four

Now, we all know that after cake, comes presents. Which again, Carina insisted that her friends 'shouldn't have', and instantly teared up at their kind gestures. This was also a time where Vic thanked the lord above for the fact that she had no clue Maya would be coming home, so she already had another gift bought. Meaning yes, if she could've gotten away with not blowing half her pay cheque from math tutoring, with using Maya as her best friend's gift, she would have. But despite all of that, our favourite Polish-American had a heart of gold and even though she'd tell you otherwise, she loves buying gifts for people.  

They all took to the living room after cleaning up the paper plates and making sure all of the extra food went into Tupperware containers for Carina's lunches in the upcoming week of work. Levi sat in the lazy boy, the doctor and her lieutenant- ironically enough, took to the loveseat, while the three-others' sat comfortably on the couch.  

First to hand over a gift was Andy. She had everything tucked away into a neat little bag with a blue stripped pattern, and some ribbon to match. Now, the short blonde had been into scrapbooking for years, so you bet your ass she made a beautiful hand-crafted card, for her almost sister-in-law.   

"The card is beautiful Andy, thank you so much!" Carina smiled appreciatively over to the older-woman across the coffee table.  

"Thanks! I made it the other night while Ryan and I were looking over some baby names for our little Nemo!" The res-fellow chuckled before gesturing for the young doctor to continue. "Go on Car, there's nothing in there to hurt ya, I promise!"  

That earned a laugh from the group of friends; Carina did as told, and began extracting the tissue paper from the bag. The first item, was a bottle of her favourite wine, which she discovered was her favourite one night her, Andy, Vic, and Travis had gone to a wine tasting downtown. "Oh Andy, you didn't have too!" 

"Yes, I did! You were raving about how much you loved the stuff for the last week, so I figured, why not!"  

"Well thank you, I'm excited to open it!" The young brunette smirked as she raised her eyebrows, twisting around in the marine's lap to show her the bottle.

  "What kind is it?" Maya asked as her own light brows furrowed in confusion, she hadn't heard of it before, not that the marine was a wine drinker, but still, she knew her alcohol.

   "Blizzard Estate Pinot Noir, it's really good. You'll love it, I promise." Carina praised as she turned a little more to pass the bottle to the lieutenant. "Really fruity." 

"Sounds nice." The marine smiled softly to her girlfriend as she looked over the bottle and set it on the table. She remembered to make a mental note of the name for later occasions in their relationship. The fact that Maya hadn't even known Carina's favorite kind of wine before now, absolutely floored her. It wasn't that she hadn't thought to ask, but knowing her girlfriend, it was ever changing. It was finally hitting the lieutenant how many changes she wouldn't be present for, and it hurt. It hurt a lot.  

"Here Car, open mine!" Travis squeaked as he handed a bag similar to the one Andy had used, over to her. "We went shopping together, that bag was the only none horrific one there, so Andy and I just decided to get it in different colors. But only after a half an hour heated discussion in the middle of Hallmark, mind you." The room erupted in a short laugh as each of them imagined the scenario going down, a pregnant woman and her best friend arguing over a birthday bag.  

"You two are too much honestly, thanks Trav." Carina breathed out as the laughter had died down, only then noticing her lieutenant hadn't been a part of it all. Not wanting to ask while everyone was still around, the young doctor reached for Maya's hands, and wrapped them around her waist, before leaning back for a short kiss. For a moment, she was worried that her marine might be in the early stages of an episode, however when Maya kissed her back, Carina knew she was still with her. With that, she smiled softly back at the lieutenant, then continued opening up her presents. She thanked the dark-skinned girl for the gift card as well as a bottle of Channel No.5.