Are You Sure? (Marina)

Eighteen.

Carina

The new addition on my bed made it impossibly hard to get up in the morning. The heating blanket Maya got me was perfect to sideline any discomfort I had throughout the night. Once Maya let me know she was safe I drifted off until the smell of smoke invaded my nostrils from a nightmare I had, jolting me awake.

The covers flew over my body and I stepped into the cool air that was not nearly as friendly as my bed. I took a quick shower to wash off the feeling of smoke I felt encased in. A feeling I'd not been able to scub off since the fire.

Eventually, I got to work on making Andrea some food to have. I settled on spaghetti with our moms bolognese recipe. In the middle of kneading the dough I realized how much I could make and decided I could make another pan of it to take to Maya. Yet another excuse to go see her and make sure she was eating.

When I was done, I secured both pots in my car with the seatbelt and plastic wrap to protect my interior. First stop would be Maya then Andrea before I went to the hospital for a quick check on patients.

The station was the same as every time I'd walked inside. Cool, clean and quiet. The trucks were inside the garage so I knew no one was on a call. I walked up to the front desk and saw Ben. "Ciao Warren how are you?"

"Carina! Wow it's good to see you around here and on your feet. I'll let Cap know you're here." He smiled at me and raised the phone to his ear. Somehow he knew I was here to see Maya and I wondered if she had told people about me. The thought was soothing. "Got it." The phone hung up and I looked back him. "She'll be right out."

As he said that the door to her office opened up and Maya came walking out. "Hi! What- oh what's that?"

"Spaghetti. I was making some for my brother and had more than enough. Do you all like spaghetti?" I titled the pot a little to show her what's inside and she let her face fall into a sarcastic frown.

"Warren do we like spaghetti?" Maya asked sarcastically still looking at me.

"No. We love spaghetti, everyone is in the beanery and would love spaghetti Carina, thank you." He rounded the desk to take the pot from my hands and I smiled. He opened the lid and the smell came pouring out, "Oh damn that smells good."

Maya was still looking at me and nodded, "It always does." She bit her lip and I couldn't help but smile at my shoes because I could see in the grin she was holding back that she wasn't talking about the pasta.

"What is that and why is not in my mouth!?" A woman came roaring down the steps. She was beautiful with dark skin and powerful brown eyes. An insane smile. Was everyone at this station good looking? "Whoah wait a minute, what's that?" She looked up from the pot at Maya.

I instantly turned to see her just standing there smiling, nothing was wrong with her. I looked her up and down and she shifted when she saw me do so.

"What?" Maya asked laughing.

"That on your face? Is that... Warren is that a smile on Captains face?" The woman tapped the man's shoulder to look at the almost blush now covering Mayas face as she rolled her eyes.

"Just take your pasta Hughes!" Maya said a little more sternly and they both almost ran upstairs with the pot, "Sorry about that. Thank you for bringing food, I'm sure it's amazing."

"Go have some. I brought it for you but knew you'd most likely eat with everyone so." I couldn't help but want to touch her. I reached out and straighten the double bars on her collar just a little slanted.

"Come, I'll introduce you." Her hand moved into mine and she pulled me towards the stairs. We slowly walked up them and towards the big double doors. When we walked in hand in hand everyone looked up from where they were swarming the pot. Hughes was already in a chair eating a bowl with sauce covering her mouth. It made me laugh. "19!"