We'll Get Through This

Part 21

Maya didn't sleep particularly well that night, anxious dreams of finding her wife sick or worse plaguing her thoughts all night.

When she woke up at 5:30 am, she was done trying to sleep and went to get out of bed to go run on the treadmill, but as she went to move, she felt Nora's little body tucked about as close as it could be to her, the toddler's hand clutching Maya's shirt tightly.

Maya sighed, looking at the sleeping toddler. Every part of her body was screaming at her for a run, but she knew the second she got up, Nora would wake up, and she wanted her little girl to get as much sleep as possible.

Maya decided to just stay in bed, attempting to focus on her breathing as she tried to calm her anxious brain down. She carefully reached for her phone, mindful of the little girl sleeping next to her.

She checked her messages, making sure there was no messages that were important for her to check. There were a few from Travis, Vic, and Andy, all letting her know all of 19 made it back to the station in one piece minus a few scraps and some mild smoke inhalation that was treated on site with a little oxygen.

There was also a message from the battalion chief who had covered for her, letting her know that other than a dislocated shoulder from someone at 88 and two cases of bad heat exhaustion from a couple of probies, the battalion had come out of the five-alarm unharmed. This made Maya feel good that her people were safe for now.

She then turned her attention to her daughter, little fingers tucked just inside her mouth, her soft green blanket under her head as she clung to Maya's shirt with her other hand.

Maya just studied her little sleeping face, always just a little bit surprised at how much both the girls, but Nora in particular, looked like Carina. Sure, she saw a lot of herself in both of them as well, but considering the girls shared half their DNA with her, that was never surprising.

Nora's hair was the exact color of Carina's and had beautiful waves that seemed to grow more and more every day. She had the same shaped face as her mamma and many of her mannerisms were identical to Carina's too. She also had Maya's nose and smile and Nora had been the smaller of the girls since they were about three months old.

Nora sighed in her sleep, snuggling somehow closer to Maya, another thing that reminded the blonde so much of her wife. Maya carefully put her hand on Nora's back, rubbing her hand up and down as the toddler sighed in her sleep.

For the next hour and a half, Maya just laid there, studying her daughter's features, spending time memorizing her adorable toddler face that she knew was changing into the face of a little girl so much faster than she wanted. She tried to convince her mind to let her sleep at various points during that time as well, but her anxiety seemed determined to make her extra miserable today.

Eventually, around 7, Maya heard little footsteps coming down the hall. She couldn't turn to look without waking Nora, but it didn't take more than a second for Rowan to come running over to the bed.

"Mommy?" the little blonde said, putting a hand on Maya's back.

"Good morning Patatina," Maya said, turning her head as much as she could to see her daughter, "You can come get in bed. Nora is still sleeping."

"Noa?" Rowan said, going down to the foot of the bed where there was a small step stool they kept for the girls, climbing on it before getting into the bed.

"Yeah, Nora is right here," Maya said as Rowan came over to her.

"Mamma?" Rowan said, looking at the empty spot in the bed.

"Remember, Mamma had to stay at the hospital last night," Maya said gently, "So the doctors can help her feel better."

"Mamma ick?" Rowan said, cocking her head.