Long Day, Station 19, Marina

[Mems]

Hi guys! Some more Marina content for you! This one was especially difficult to write, sick Carina is so much easier for me than sick Maya for some reason, but despite that, I also kind of already have an idea for a second part, lol, so if you want more, let me know 😂 I also wrote this one on my phone, so forgive any editing errors!

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It had been about three months since Carina had moved back into the apartment with Maya and it had never felt more like home. They had worked together to rebuild the space from the ground up, finally taking the time to truly meld their two lives into one home rather than simply haphazardly adding Carina’s items to the apartment mid-pandemic. Carina released a deep breath as she surveyed the space- she felt she had a true home now, for the first time in her life. She smiled to herself as she poured a glass of Pinot Grigio and flipped the pages of the new cookbook Gabriella had sent her from Italy. She’d been excited to try a new recipe from it and finally had an afternoon off while Maya was working to truly dig into a new recipe, hoping to have something delicious to surprise her wife with when she was done. 

She sipped her wine and sang along to her favorite Italian records while she toasted pine nuts and grated pecorino. She was just combining the fresh pasta and sauce when she heard the front door lock click. 

Carina quickly transferred the warm dish into a bowl and wiped her hands on her apron, going to the door to greet her wife as she entered. 

Maya smiled as she entered the apartment, her eyes immediately locking onto the woman walking towards her. Carina was slightly flushed from the warmth of the stove, just the front of her hair pulled back from her face, and a wide, happy grin. 

“Welcome home, Bella,” Carina crooned, immediately pulling Maya into a kiss.

Maya leaned into the kiss, wrapping her arms around Carina’s waist and giving into the warmth of coming home to her favorite person until a sudden sneeze forced her to break away and jolted her into Carina’s collarbone. “hEh-chiew!” she sneezed irepressibly, snapping forward into Carina’s neck, Carina’s arms immediately wrapping around her as her wet sneeze gave way to a congested cough. 

“Bambina,” Carina frowned, rubbing Maya’s back until the coughing stopped, then wrapping her arms around her wife and pulling her close, “what wrong?”

“Just a little tired,” Maya responded, only to be met by a sharp look by Carina. “Maybe getting a little cold,” she amended, seeing the look in Carina’s eyes. Accepting care and rest and admitting when she needed it was tough work for Maya, but Carina wasn’t letting her off the hook for this one. 

“I’m sorry I let you kiss me, I got distracted by, well, you.” Maya apologized sheepishly.

“Maya, are you serious right now?” Carina said, sharply but still kindly. “You could have the plague and that would not stop me from kissing you after a 24 hour shift.” She punctuated her remark with another firm kiss on Maya’s lips, emphasizing her point. 

Maya smiled and pulled herself out of her wife’s arms only to grab onto Carina’s hand, leading her into the kitchen.

“What have you been up to in here?” she asked, surveying the damage that Carina always caused when left unattended in the kitchen. The food was always enormously delicious and the kitchen enormously messy when Carina got into her true Italian cooking spirit. 

“Mmm, new pasta recipe, you want to taste?”

Maya nodded eagerly. She wasn’t all that hungry and her throat was truly killing her but everything Carina made was amazing and she knew Carina would be proud of her new dish. 

Carina fed Maya a forkful from the bowl and Maya hummed appreciatively. It really was delicious. 

“Go sit Bambina, I will bring you a bowl,” Carina instructed. 

Maya crossed the apartment into the living room and curled up in the corner of the couch. They didn’t often have dinner on the couch, Carina placed a high value on nice meals at the table after long days apart, but Maya was so tired tonight she couldn’t resist a cozy meal snuggled up with her wife. 

Carina noticed her wife’s choice of seating, a clue into how crummy Maya was truly feeling. The sound of another harsh “hehx-chiew!” from the living room was her next clue. 

She quickly scooped the pasta into deep bowls that would be easy to eat out of from the couch and poured a glass of wine for herself and a glass for Maya. The doctor side of her knew alcohol was probably not what Maya’s body needed right now, but the Italian side of her also believed that wine was the cure for almost anything. 

She walked into the living room holding the bowls, noticing Maya snuggled up under a blanket rubbing her hand under her pinkening nose. 

“Here you go, Bambina,” she said, offering the bowl of pasta and glass of wine to Maya. 

Maya shook her head, confusing Carina for a moment before she quickly ducked down and sneezed harshly into her hands, “HEXCHIEW! HEH-kxheiw!”

“Sorry,” Maya said, quickly wiping her hands on her jeans. 

“Bless you, Bambina,” Carina said sweetly, grabbing her own dinner and settling down next to Maya on the couch to eat. 

Maya gave her a small smile back, snuggling a bit closer to her wife on the couch and offering her half of the blanket covering her lap. Carina accepted silently, allowing Maya to curl up to her side and pulling the television remote out from the cushions to find something easy to watch. They watched TV while they ate even less than they had dinner on the couch, but Carina could tell Maya wasn’t quite up for chatting. 

They ate quietly, the sounds of the TV and forks clinking and Maya’s quiet sniffles the only noise. Maya was doing her best to eat as much as possible, grateful that the warm fresh pasta was gentle enough on her throat. Each small sip of wine burned her throat like acid, but she was appreciating the gentle drowsy feeling it was bringing. She managed most of the glass of wine and about half the pasta before her head began to droop onto Carina’s shoulder.  

“Ay, mio amore,” Carina crooned, taking the bowl and empty glass from Maya’s slacking hands and putting them onto the table before they could spill. 

Maya snuggled up further into Carina’s side, resting the weight of her whole body against her wife. 

“How was your day?” Maya asked quietly, longing for some connection despite her fatigue. 

“It was good,” Carina answered, “I stopped by the hospital this morning to do a little research with Amelia, then I went to yoga and the store and then came home to make dinner for my wife.”

Maya grinned, snuffling and rubbing her nose before giving into a small cough. 

“That sounds like a nice day,” she said, looking up from her spot on Carina’s shoulder to look into her wife’s eyes. 

“What about you? How was your shift, my love?” Carina asked, gently stroking Maya’s arm with her fingertips. 

“Long,” Maya answered. “Long and busy. Back to back calls and when we weren’t fighting fires everyone was fighting each other,” Maya groaned. She was tired of the firehouse drama and her impending cold had not made her any more amenable to it. 

“I’m sorry, Bella,” Carina said quietly. She knew how taxing the constant drama of the station was on Maya. 

Maya shrugged, ready to not think about work for a few days, but unable to stop the exhausted tears welling up in her eyes. 

“Oh Maya,” Carina said gently, feeling the wet tears on her shoulder before turning to see tears slowly rolling down Maya’s face. 

“I’m sorry, I don’t even know why I’m crying,” Maya said through her tears. “It was just a long shift and I didn’t sleep at all and someone’s dog died in an apartment fire and this stupid cold.”

The dam had burst and Maya was fully sobbing now, practically sitting in Carina’s lap, head buried into her chest. 

“Shh, Bambina, it’s okay, I’m right here,” Carina soothed, stroking her fingers through Maya’s silky hair. 

Maya continued to cry a few more minutes, just letting the stress of her day release until her breath suddenly hitched and she sneezed harshly, “HEEH-xch-IEW!” pressing even further into Carina’s chest, her sneeze making way for a round of congested coughs. 

“Il mio povera bambina,” Carina said with a pout, gently pulling away from Maya to look into her eyes. She gently wiped the tears off of Maya’s cheeks while Maya scrubbed at her nose with her shirt sleeve. 

“Heeeh-HEHTCHIEW!” she sneezed again, her shirt sleeve now thoroughly coated. 

“Come here,” Carina said gently, pulling her own shirtsleeve down to wipe Maya’s face clean. 

“Thanks,” Maya said, her voice deeply congested after the crying fit. 

“Are you ready to go to bed, Bambina?” Carina asked, knowing after Maya’s breakdown that she was either truly exhausted, truly sick, or both. 

“Can we just lay here and watch a movie?” Maya asked in response. “I’ve missed you, I don’t want to sleep yet.”

Carina agreed, laying back on the couch and pulling Maya on top of her, covering them both with the cozy blanket. She was happy to feel that Maya still felt relatively cool, meaning her tears were more likely caused by exhaustion than fever. 

Maya settled down into Carina’s arms, her head resting on Carina’s chest. Carina could feel the warm exhales of breath against her skin as Maya breathed softly through her mouth, her nose fully blocked with congestion.

They laid together quietly for a while, Maya snuffling and sneezing into Carina’s chest, Carina gently rubbing Maya’s back. After about half an hour, Carina noticed Maya’s breath deepen and realized Maya had fallen asleep on top of her, soft snuffly snores coming from her congested nose. Carina must have fallen asleep herself at some point, because she woke up to Maya attempting a muffle a painful sounding sneezing fit into her chest, “heeeeh-chMPF! Hehtchmpf! HeeeeeetchmpfIEW! HehTCHiew!” Carina felt each wet blast, groaning slightly, not at the mess but from her own drowsiness from waking. 

“Mmm, salute mio amore,” Carina said sleepily, rubbing the sleep from her eyes before looking down at her wife.

“Sorry,” Maya said thickly, “I was trying not to wake you up.”

“Shh it’s okay,” Carina replied, blinking a few times to adjust her eyes to the darkness in the room. The sun had gone down while they were napping and it had gotten dark and late. 

She looked down at Maya, who was still laying on her chest, trying and failing to wipe her face with her wet hands. 

“Come on, Bambina, let’s go to bed.”

She grabbed Maya’s hand, slick with fluids, and lead her in the bedroom and set her down on the bed. 

“Stay here for just a minute, okay?”

Maya nodded silently. She usually would have insisted on following Carina, but she didn’t have it in her tonight. Carina came back a few minutes later with a hot wash cloth, some organic chest rub, and a bottle of NyQuil. 

“Have I ever mentioned that I love you?” Maya said, eye the handful of goodies Carina was bringing back to bed. 

“Mmm once or twice…” Carina said cheekily. 

Carina gently wiped Maya’s face with the warm cloth, removing the nights worth of fluid that had collected onto her face while she was sleeping. Then she took Maya’s hands and gently wiped those as well, as they had been well abused by Maya’s runny nose as well. 

Maya’s nose twitched as the warm cloth triggered her itchy sinuses. “HEH-TCHEW!!! HEEHTCHIEW!” she sneezed into the washcloth in her wife’s hand.

“Bless you, Bambina,” Carina said, finishing wiping Maya’s face and placing a gentle kiss on Maya’s freshly cleaned lips. 

“Thanks,” Maya said, her voice laden with congestion, rubbing her nose against the back of her wrist.

“Take some medicine, Bambina,” Carina instructed, passing a small cup of the red syrup to her wife. 

Maya took it obediently. Normally she would have argued that she wasn’t really sick enough to need medicine, but she was so tired tonight, too tired to argue with her wife, and she had to admit a good night's sleep sounded pretty wonderful. 

“Good job Bambina,” Carina smiled at her, putting the now empty cup onto the bedside table and opening up the jar of chest cream. She silently began gently rubbing the ointment into Maya’s chest and back, both of them enjoying the feeling of each other's touch. 

Maya leaned over and rested her head on Carina’s shoulder, too tired and her head too heavy to sit up on her own anymore. Carina took her hand to Maya’s hair, gently stroking, allowing her wife a moment just to rest. 

Maya’s sinuses beginning to drain thanks to the combination of the clearing eucalyptus rub and the position of her head bent down resting on Carina’s shoulder. Carina could feel the thin liquid trickling down her collar bone, but made no attempts to move until Maya initiated it. 

Maya then jerked hard against her, “HEEHTCIEW!” she sneezed harshly, the thin trickle from her nostrils making way for a thick splatter against Carina’s soft skin. 

Maya pulled slightly back, releasing two more harsh sneezes releasing onto both her and Carina’s hands and laps. 

Maya took in a deep snuffle as Carina took the hem of Maya’s soft sleep shirt to attempt to wipe up the thick ribbons of snot from her wife’s nose. 

“Blow, Bambina,” Carina instructed gently, not wanting to Maya to snuffle back up all the sickness her body had just worked so hard to expel. 

Maya complied sleepily, the NyQuil clearly having kicked in now, releasing thick mucus into the  sleep shirt covering her wife’s hand. 

Carina quickly felt the thin shirt become saturated and found herself with a handful of snot, gently pinching it away from her wife’s nose before pulling the shirt over Maya’s head and tossing it into the hamper. 

Maya was still breathing heavily through her mouth, but Carina was satisfied that the medicine and chest rub had done their job of clearing at least some of the congestion. 

She got up to grab Maya a clean shirt, only to have Maya grab onto her hand and pull her back to bed. 

“Stay,” Maya mumbled sleepily, snuffling down under the covers.

“I’m just going to get you a clean shirt, Bambina, I’m not going anywhere.”

“Don’t need shirt. Need you,” Maya mumbled, continuing to cling onto Carina’s hand even as her eyes began to slide shut.

Carina smiled indulgently and slid under the covers herself, Maya cuddling up close, clinging to Carina’s own shirt and pressing her face against Carina’s collarbone. Carina hated to see her wife unwell, but she had to admit to loving this soft, needy, affectionate version of Maya. 

Maya released one more soft sneeze into Carina’s shirt with a sleepy “hept-chiew!” followed by a quiet cough and then finally, gentle snores. 

Carina held Maya close, pressing a kiss to the top of her head, before the warm weight of her wife lulled her to sleep herself. 

 

[arambolia]

I love this!!

[Privatedancer]

So sweet

[sneezemeister]

Loved this! I would love to see a part two if you do decide to write it