Popcorn and Nuggets

Carina is startled awake by gasping for a breath only to be met with resistance and .... A mouthful of blonde hair. She moves her face away, using her hand to clear her mouth as she orients herself.

It's morning time and the sun is shining brightly through the blinds, illuminating the tangled mess of blonde hair currently tucked onto her chest and sprawled all over, somehow ending up in her mouth and impeding her airway.

Well, that wouldn't make breathing very easy. Add that to the fact that her wife was adorably smothering her frame and clinging to her like a koala, effectively crushing her lungs and you've got the recipe for oxygen deprivation.

Not that Maya was heavy in any sense, but the way the blonde was currently laying literally on top of her, made it difficult. Carina hears a faint snoring coming from the blonde mess and recognizes that Maya is likely exhausted and feeling needy; so she subconsciously crawled on top of her in her sleep.

There's a faint crackle to Maya's deep and labored snores. Carina twists her face in wonder and worry, straining her ears to fully hear the sound. She wiggles slightly, shifting Maya's dead weight off of her, only to be met by a soft mewl of displeasure, the blonde roughly exhaling and fussing in her sleep, tightening her grip on Carina's waist and squeezing her thighs, refusing to un-koala herself even an inch.

Carina waits it out, listening for Maya's breathing to fall a little flatter as she drifts back to her deep sleep, and the crackling stayed persistent. She snakes her hand up and under Maya's baggy red-sleeved shirt and places her palms flat on her back, feeling the raspy cracks and hitches that accompanied the noise, all but confirming what she was dreading.

Maya Bishop had a crackling cough in her lungs.

Which leads her one of two ways;

Maya Bishop was sick, or she was an idiot.

An idiot who didn't tell her wife that she probably entered a call when she's not supposed to and landed herself with smoke inhalation. An idiot who thought if she just crawled into bed in the early morning that her wife wouldn't notice the soot caked behind her ears that she missed, despite her several showers in an attempt to wash the smoke scent off.

Maya Bishop was an excellent fire Captain. She was a tremendously patient and loving wife. She was a loyal friend.

But god, she was an absolute idiot.

And an even worse liar.

Carina knew the signs, and also knew the dreaded argument that will inevitably come once Maya rises. It was well past 7am, and Maya's internal clock was sure to wake her up in a panic for missing her morning run soon.

Carina cranes her neck and slides one of her hands out from underneath Maya's shirt, frowning at the heat radiating off the blonde in her sleep, the soft snores and cracks bringing worry to her brow.  She paws at the nightstand until she reaches her phone, texting Andy for insider intel before approaching the subject with her cranky, little blonde koala.

Carina: How long was she inside for? Did she wear her tank?

Andy: Good Morning to you too, Dr. DeLuca.

Carina: Don't be a kiss ass. I know you enabled her too. How long?

Andy: I don't think I'm able to answer that without legal representation.

Carina: .... One pan of lasagna, delivered to your door.

Andy: Deal. She entered at the end, after we had called operational retreat. 😬

Carina: Is there some kind of bet going on around there?

Andy: ???

Carina: A bet for who can make the most amount of  idiotic decisions this month? First she dove into a sewer to save a family of ducks cuz she was the only one small enough to fit. Then, she falls through a roof because of a rotten chimney. Now she's entering AFTER an operational retreat?!