Marina Oneshot Book

Don't Give Up On Me

TW: physical, verbal & emotional abuse, anxiety

I will fight

I will fight for you

I always do until my heart

Is black and blue   

It was a slow day at the station; the team only had an aid car call that they handled efficiently. Maya was working on some paperwork before her meeting with the Battalion and Fire Chiefs next week. She was in her office when suddenly, she heard voices. Walking out, she saw Vic cradling a little girl in her arms. The girl seemed to be no older than ten and was sobbing uncontrollably. Maya could feel her heart breaking but remained poised. The little girl was scared and Maya saw the bruises on her and how her eye was beginning to swell.

What monster could hurt such a small child? Maya knelt down, making her presence known to the little girl. "Hi sweetie. My name is Maya and I want to help you. Can you tell me your name?"

The girl looked up, squinting with her good eye and nodded slowly. "I'm Norah. My name is Norah."

"OK Norah. Is it OK if I bring you to my bunk so we're not sitting in the middle of the lobby?"

Norah looked around carefully. Vic's arms were still holding her, and Maya had rested her hand on her thigh. They felt safe. She nodded and Maya led them into her office and the room adjacent. Vic sat with Norah on the bed when Maya reappeared with some ice to put on Norah's eye.

"Norah, sweetie, I need you to stay awake for a little longer OK? I just need to ask you a few questions."

Maya noticed that Norah was snuggled in Vic's arms and wasn't going to take her from Vic. "You can stay in Vic's arms while I ask them."

"O-OK."

"Can you please tell me your full name?"

"Norah Angelica Bishop-Jones."

Bishop?

"Cap, you OK?" Vic asked once Maya came back.

Maya nodded, trying not to think about it too much. Could her father have had an affair? "Good, thank you Norah. How old are you?"

"I'm ten," she replied. "My birthday is next month."

"Good. Look, I know you probably don't want to talk about this... But we need to know how you got those bruises, sweetie."

Norah's eyes darted between Vic and Maya. She didn't want to relive any of her trauma. What would happen to her if she did? Her breathing became rigid and both Vic and Maya were attempting to calm her down.

"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine," Maya began singing softly. It was a lullaby that had helped Mason calm down when he was little. The song was one of the only ones that Maya's father had let them listen to and she wanted to see if her assumptions were correct. "You make me happy, when skies are grey."

"How do you know that lullaby?" Norah asked once she was breathing normally again. She didn't know what to think and her eye was throbbing.

Maya gulped. "My uh... my dad would sing that to me when I was little. And to my brother."

Vic noticed the tension between the two of them, already having her own speculations, but she didn't want to interfere. They asked Norah a few more questions until she got too tired and fell asleep. Checking that she was in a deep sleep, the two women left the bunk and sat in Maya's office.

"Is she?"

"I don't know, Vic," Maya admitted. "She could be. The eyes - his eyes - they're too similar. You don't think?"