I have gotten various versions of a prompt that basically boils down to Maya is having gynecological issues and Carina helps. I hope you enjoy!
They had just finished having insanely good sex, and normally, Maya felt amazing after that. Today, however, something just didn't feel right. She couldn't quite put her finger on what it was, but something was hurting.
"That was incredible," Carina said, rolling over and looking at Maya.
"Uh huh," the blonde said, the pain her her abdomen growing.
"What's wrong?" Carina asked, confused.
Normally, after sex, they would cuddle and talk a little.
"Something doesn't feel right," Maya said, hand going to her right side, "My stomach hurts."
"Like nausea?" Carina asked, concerned.
"No," Maya said, shaking her head, "Like someone is stabbing me. God, Carina, it's starting to really hurt."
"Has it been hurting all day?" Carina asked, flipping from fiancé Carina into Dr. Deluca OB/GYN mode.
"No," Maya said, "It's only been hurting since we finished."
"And you have had your appendix out," Carina said, nodding, "May I?"
Maya nodded, letting Carina start to palpate her abdomen.
"Ouch," Maya yelped as Carina touched a particularly tender area, "Don't."
"Have you been urinating more than normal?" Carina asked, running through all the things that could be wrong in her head.
"No," Maya said, shaking her head, "I literally felt completely normal until about five minutes ago."
"Ok," Carina said, nodding, "And you are not pregnant."
"Not unless you magically started producing semen with your fingers," Maya said, raising an eyebrow, "Or it's possible to get pregnant two and a half years after having sex with a man."
Carina just shook her head, chuckling a little, "Well, we might need to go to the hospital."
"What?" Maya said, clutching her side, "I'm fine. I'm sure it's nothing. Can't we just see if it will go away?"
"Maya, I think you have a ruptured ovarian cyst," Carina said, "And it might be fine to leave, but we can't know unless we get an ultrasound. I won't even take you to the ER. We just need to go to an exam room, and I can do a quick ultrasound. It is probably fine, but if you are bleeding, it could get very serious very quickly."
"Come on, Car," Maya whined, pain radiating through her pelvis as she sat up, "I will be fine."
Carina thought for a minute, knowing the statistics. Likely, nothing would happen. Maya would be sore and, knowing her girlfriend, probably grumpy, for the next few days, but she really should be fine. However, there was a nagging voice in the back of her head repeating all the complications a ruptured cyst could cause like internal bleeding or infection.
"Listen," Carina said, "We will be fast. In and out in under twenty minutes as long as there's nothing major. I will do the ultrasound. Please? It will make me feel better to know you are not bleeding out."
"Fine," Maya agreed, knowing Carina was giving her her best medical advice, "But can we just lay here a little longer?"
"Sure," Carina nodded, pulling Maya close.
"So, is there a chance I am going to lose my ovary from this?" Maya asked, shifting a little, trying to get comfortable.
"The chances of that happening are very very tiny," Carina said, shaking her head, "I have seen two women in my entire practice lose their ovary simply from a cyst. It would have to be quite large for that to happen."
Maya nodded, "Good. I know we haven't officially decided anything about babies, but I don't want to have the decision made for us."
"This should not impact that," Carina said, shaking her head.
The two of them laid there for a while.
"I'm starting to feel better," Maya said, shifting a little, "Can we please just skip the hospital? I'm sore, but the really bad pain went away."
"Let me feel again," Carina said, knowing if Maya's belly wasn't getting rigid, she was probably fine, not at risk of bleeding.
Maya moved, allowing Carina to run her hands over her abdomen again.
"Alright," Carina said with a sigh, "Your abdomen is still soft so you are probably alright. But if anything changes, you have to tell me, understand? You are probably going to feel a little bloated and maybe crampy for the next day or two, but anything else, tell me."
"Yes Dr. Deluca," Maya said, sticking her tongue out at her.
Carina just laughed, shaking her head.
They spent the evening just enjoying each other's company, Carina making pasta for dinner. Maya was sore and grumpy, much as Carina predicted. The Italian had helped her, rubbing her stomach as they watched a movie. The rest of the night was calm, the two of them taking a shower together before going to bed.
The next day, Maya was still feeling alright, her stomach bloated, but after a little more TLC from Carina, she was feeling better.
Both of them honestly forgot about the cyst for the next few weeks, the two of them working on wedding plans when they could between busy shifts at work.
A few weeks later, Carina came home from work to a shocking sight. It was barely 8 pm, and her fiancé was sound asleep in bed. She knew Maya had worked a lot this week, but for the blonde chronic insomniac, sleeping before midnight was rare, no matter how tired she was.
Carina put a gentle hand on Maya's forehead, noting she felt a little warm and hoping Maya wasn't coming down with something, knowing there was a flu going around the hospital.
She decided to leave her sleeping, going and heating up some food. She ate before going back into the bedroom, finding Maya curled up in bed, shaking and sweating, curled up in a ball.
"Bambina," Carina said, walking to her side, "What's wrong?"
"I don't know," Maya said, shivering, "I feel really sick. Maybe food poisoning or a stomach virus or something."
"I'm sorry," Carina said, rubbing her back gently, "What can I do?"
"I don't know," Maya said, "Maybe I need to use the bathroom?"
"Ok," Carina said, helping her up, Maya's entire body shaking as she walked.
Carina left her in peace to use the bathroom, going into the kitchen and grabbing a glass of water for Maya.
"You alright Bambina?" Carina called, worried about her fiancé.
"I don't know," Maya said, opening the door, "I'm bleeding."
"Cosa?" Carina said, coming into the bathroom.
"I'm bleeding," Maya said again, "But I just had my period last week."
Just then, Maya dropped to her knees in front of the toilet, throwing up.
"Ok," Carina said, rubbing her back.
Once the blonde was done, Carina helped her sit back against the wall.
"Maya, where exactly does it hurt?" Carina asked, handing her some water to rinse her mouth.
"Down lower than it normally does with a stomach virus," Maya said, "Like near my pelvis."
"Can I do a quick exam?" Carina asked, starting to worry because bleeding combined with pelvic pain was something she saw daily, "Just external."
Maya nodded, laying down on the floor.
"What do you think is going on?" Maya asked, wincing.
"There are several things," Carina said, probing Maya's abdomen, "But I am feeling a small mass here. I think we need to go to Grey Sloan."
"A mass?" Maya said as Carina helped her sit up, "Like cancer?"
"I won't know until I can see it," Carina said as Maya paled, leaning over the toilet, throwing up again.
When she leaned back this time, there were tears running down her cheeks.
"Hey," Carina said, handing her a wet wash cloth, "No tears. There are many things this could be. You could have another cyst or a benign mass or an ovarian torsion or any number of things. But we can't figure out what it is until we go to the hospital."
Maya nodded, letting Carina help her up.
"You are going to be ok Bambina," Carina said, helping her into some clothes, "No matter what this is, we are going to get it taken care of."
"But what if it's really serious?" Maya asked as they got ready to leave, Carina grabbing a trash can in case Maya got sick again in the car.
"Then we will deal with it," Carina reassured, "I know the best gynecologists in the world, and we are going to get you taken care of. But, Bambina, this is probably nothing, probably just another cyst that is not as nice as the last one."
Maya nodded, trying to keep her mind calm as they headed to the hospital.
"I already texted Teddy," Carina said, "She has a room ready for us with an ultrasound and some fluids for you. We are going to get you feeling better soon."
Maya just grabbed the trash can, throwing up again. They got to Grey Sloan quickly, Carina helping Maya inside.
"Do you need a wheel chair?" Carina asked, noticing how much pain Maya seemed to be in.
"No," Maya said, shaking her head, "Let's just go."
While Teddy got the IV set up, Carina did the ultrasound.
"Ok," Carina said, moving the wand over Carina's belly, "Well, your left ovary looks good. Your uterus is also looking good. And…oh, Teddy, we need to page whoever is on call."
"What's wrong?" Maya asked, fear flooding her body.
"You have an ovarian torsion, Bambina," Carina said, grabbing an emesis bag when she saw Maya's face, "It is not bad. Your ovary just twisted around, but we need to correct it or you could lose the ovary. It is a simple surgery. This is not life threatening or anything bad."
"Thank god," Maya said, grabbing the emesis bag and throwing up again, Carina rubbing her back.
"I think Wilson working tonight, no?" Carina said, looking at Teddy.
"So, here's the problem," Teddy said as Carina threw out the emesis bag, handing Maya a new one, "Wilson had to call in Peters, who was on call, because apparently there are like a million moms in here tonight. Two people in OB have the flu, and everyone else is away on a conference. It is so crazy around here tonight that they were thinking about calling you back in."
"Merda," Carina cursed, having forgotten about the conference, "Um, ok. Well, this needs to be fixed or she could lose it."
"I know," Teddy said, "You could do it."
"I am not allowed to operate on my fiance," Carina said, shaking her head, "I can't."
"There are technically no rules about it," Teddy said, "And it's a simple procedure. I could help, if it would make you feel better. Or you could go switch with Wilson or Peters and get them to do this."
Carina bit her lip, looking down at Maya.
"Whatever you want to do Babe," Maya said, swallowing thickly before grabbing the bag, throwing up again.
Carina rubbed her back, calming her down.
"I don't care if you operate or someone else, but I need this pain to stop," Maya said when she finished.
"I am going to go see if Wilson will switch with me," Carina said, "I'm sorry Bambina, but I don't think I could concentrate knowing it was you on the table."
"Whatever is best for you," Maya said, "I will be unconscious. Just promise you'll be there when I wake up?"
"Of course," Carina nodded, "I am going to leave you here with Teddy while I go talk to Dr. Wilson."
"Can I have something for the pain?" Maya asked, everything hurting so much.
"Yeah," Teddy nodded, "I've got it. And I'll get her admitted too."
"Si," Carina nodded, "Grazie. I will hopefully be back before you go back Bambina, but if not, I love you, and I will be here when you wake up."
"Love you too," Maya said as Carina kissed her forehead before leaving the room.
"Alright," Teddy said, having stepped out for a minute, coming back with pain meds, a nurse, and a tablet, "This is Anne. She is going to be helping me out until we get you up to pre-op."
"Hi Ms. Bishop," Anne said, "I have some pain meds here for you. Do you have any allergies?"
"No," Maya said, shaking her head.
"Alright," Anne said, "This is just some morphine. It will help with the pain."
Maya nodded as she injected the meds.
"Can you answer some questions for me?" Teddy asked, noticing Maya relaxing a little.
"Yeah," Maya nodded.
They got through the admissions paperwork before Jo came in about ten minutes later.
"Maya," she said, "Hey. Sorry you are feeling so bad."
"I'll be ok," Maya said, "I had some pain meds so I feel a little better."
"Good," Jo nodded, "I went over Carina's ultrasound. I have an OR for you that will be ready in about twenty minutes. The quicker we can get in there, the better. We are going to move you to preop right now."
"Carina?" Maya asked as Anne and Jo started wheeling her out of the room.
"She's in a delivery," Jo said, "And she won't be done before you go back. But she said to tell you she loves you and she will see you soon. The procedure is only about twenty minutes as long as there are no complications."
"Ok," Maya said, the pain meds combined with how terrible she was feeling making tears spring up in her eyes.
"I've got you, Jo reassured her, "I know it's a lot, but this is really quite a simple procedure."
"How long is recovery?" Maya asked, feeling the nausea start to swell as they moved through the hospital, realizing Carina hadn't given her a new bag.
"About six weeks," Jo said, "At least until you'll be cleared for everything. But you should start feeling better in a few days. I'm guessing, depending on how everything goes, you will probably be able to go home tomorrow night or the following morning."
"Good," Maya said, feeling the nausea swell more as they got to her pre-op room, Jo heading to prep for surgery.
"Are you alright?" Anne asked, seeing how pale Maya had gotten.
Maya shook her head, hands over her mouth. Just as Anne was about to grab a bag for Maya, the blonde threw up all over herself.
"I'm sorry," Maya said, tears welling up in her eyes.
"It's ok," Anne said, already grabbing things to help Maya clean up, "Although, this shirt might be a lost cause. Do you want me to save it?"
"No," Maya said miserably as she undid the buttons.
"It's ok," Anne said, handing her a fresh emesis bag, "You needed to change into a gown anyways."
Anne helped Maya get cleaned up and into a gown, finishing just in time for the OR nurse to come get Maya.
"We are going to give you something to calm you down," the nurse said, pushing something into Maya's IV, "Just relax."
Maya nodded, feeling the effects of the meds almost immediately, her body calming down fast. She was barely even awake by the time they got to the OR. She was moved to the bed before a mask was placed over her face and she was out.
Jo quickly got to work, relieved that she didn't find any surprises when she got into Maya's abdomen. She finished up the procedure pretty quickly before handing closing over to the intern who was observing, confident they could throw a few stitches to get Maya closed.
She wanted to go find Carina and relieve her so that she could be with Maya when she woke up. She was relieved that Carina was standing at the nurse's station when she walked up.
"She did great," Jo said, seeing the worry on Carina's face, "She had a grade three torsion, but I corrected it, and the blood flow looked perfect. I did it all laparoscopically so she's got two tiny incisions, but that's it. I had Thomas observing and he's closing now. I will take back over for you here so you can go sit with her."
"Thank you so much Jo," Carina said, giving her friend and colleague a hug, "Oh, Mrs. Gomez delivered. She had some bleeding. I got it under control but keep an eye on it. And Mrs. Holmes is 9 cm as of 5 minutes ago. I will be here all night so if you need me, I will be in Maya's room."
"I will do my best not to disturb you," Jo said, "Oh, and she did have what looked like a healed cyst on her ovary and a few other small ones. I don't know if she knows about them, but it might be something for her to bring up with her regular doctor."
"Ok," Carina nodded, knowing that without a rupture or something like this, ovarian cysts were easy to miss, especially if you were not trying to get pregnant.
"Oh, she is being moved to post-op," Jo said, seeing the update on Maya, "You can go up there. She should be up soon."
"Thank you," Carina nodded, heading up to her office to change back into her regular clothes before heading to see Maya.
She got to post-op, finding Maya quickly, a nurse checking her vitals.
"She's doing well Dr. Deluca," the nurse said, "She's just starting to come around. She's got some shakes, probably from the anesthesia. I am going to grab her another blanket."
"Thank you," Carina nodded, grabbing a chair.
She sat down next to Maya, taking her hand, which as the nurse said, was shaking pretty badly.
"Bambina," she whispered quietly, "I'm right here. Whenever you're ready, you can open your eyes. I'm right here."
Maya's eyes opened, darting around the room before landing on Carina.
"Hi," Carina said, rubbing circles on the back on Maya's hand, "How are you feeling?"
"Sick," Maya said, starting to gag.
Carina grabbed an emesis bag, getting it in front of Maya not a moment too soon.
"Ok," Carina said, wincing as Maya was sick, "It's ok. I will get someone to get you something. Just breathe."
The nurse who had gone to get the blanket saw what was happening and immediately came over with some meds.
"This will help with the nausea," she said, immediately injecting it into Maya's IV.
It took a minute, but Maya's stomach settled, the blonde relaxing back against the pillows as Carina switched out the bag for a clean one.
"Why am I so shaky?" Maya asked, "And why was I so sick?"
"You are not doing well coming off the anesthesia," Carina said, "It will go away soon. Just try to be calm. Jo said you did very well in surgery. Everything is back to normal."
"Good," Maya nodded, letting her eyes slip shut.
A minute later, they opened again, looking at Carina.
"I need to call Andy and Vic and Chief Gregory," she said, moving around, clearly looking for her phone.
"Bambina, calm down," Carina said, taking her hands, "It is almost 11 pm. I will text Vic and Andy right now from my phone. Yours will be waiting for you in your room. You can call the chief in the morning. Just relax."
Maya nodded, letting her eyes close again. Carina grabbed her phone, keeping one hand in Maya's, continuing rubbing circles on it to keep Maya calm.
She sent texts to Andy and Vic, not expecting to hear back from the lieutenant because Andy was currently 3 months pregnant and exhausted all the time. Vic, however, texted her back right away.
To Vic: Hey, Maya asked me to text you. We are currently at Grey Sloan. She just had surgery to fix a twisted ovary. She is fine, but she wanted you to know.
To Carina: Oh my gosh, what? How did that happen? Do you guys need anything?
To Vic: It is a random occurrence. She will be here overnight, possibly tomorrow night too, depending on how she does. We are good for tonight.
To Carina: That sucks. Let me know if either of you need anything. I'll stop by tomorrow if she's up for visitors.
To Vic: Ok. Just text me before you come. Thanks Vic.
To Carina: Of course. Text if you guys need anything.
"Vic said she will come by tomorrow if you are up for visitors," Carina said, brushing a piece of blonde hair off Maya's forehead, "And I have not heard from Andy."
"She'll text you at 2 am," Maya said, cracking open one eye, "That's when she gets up to pee and have a snack."
Carina gave her a look.
"Hey, having chronic insomnia means I know these things," Maya said, shrugging, "Sometimes, I make her tea. It's been happening for the past month because of the baby."
Carina nodded, shaking her head. She knew her fiancé never slept on shift and wasn't surprised that Andy was waking up in the middle of the night, having heard of that happening to many patients.
"Are you feeling better?" Carina asked, noticing Maya was still shaking.
"My stomach is," Maya said, "But I just feel… weird. I don't know. I'm tired."
"You can sleep," Carina said, "They are probably going to move you up to a room soon."
Just then, a nurse walked over to them.
"We are going to take you to the floor," the nurse said.
"Ok," Maya nodded, Carina moving so the nurses could access the bed.
"I'm right here, Bambina," Carina reassured as she saw Maya looking around, "I am right behind you."
Maya calmed a little, grateful that this ride through the hospital didn't make her feel nearly as sick as the last one. Once she was settled in her room, the nurses left.
"Do you need anything Bambina?" Carina asked.
"No," Maya said, shaking her head, "You're staying right?"
"There is nowhere else I would dream of being tonight," Carina said, shaking her head, "I am going to sleep on the couch."
"Can you lay with me until I fall asleep?" Maya asked, "Please?"
"Only if you promise to tell me if I hurt you," Carina said, already slipping her shoes off.
"You won't," Maya said, rubbing her eyes.
"Alright," Carina said, "I'm right here. Close your eyes."
"Thank you for helping me tonight," Maya said, relaxing into Carina's arms, "And for promising to be here for me no matter what."
"Bambina, we are going to promise til death do us part in three months," Carina said, "I am not going anywhere, although for everything that was running through my head when I felt the mass, I am glad this was the outcome and not something worse."
"Me too," Maya nodded, yawning, "I was really scared."
"I was too," Carina confessed, feeling tears that she had been holding in all day surface, "I could not imagine anything bad happening to you. Watching you go through this was hard enough."
"Hey," Maya said, wincing as she shifted a little so she could see Carina better, "It's ok. I am ok, or I will be."
"I know," Carina said, wiping her eyes, "I know. It was just a lot."
"I know," Maya said, wiping Carina's tears herself, "I'm sorry."
"You didn't do anything," Carina said, shaking her head, "It was just bad luck."
"Yeah," Maya nodded, knowing her fiancé was right, "Well, I promise to try really hard not to do anything else to scare you like this."
"And I promise that even when you do, I will be right here with you through all of it," Carina said, kissing Maya on the forehead, "Now, sleep Bambina. I will be here when you wake up."
Maya nodded, letting her sleepy eyes close, happy that if she was going to have to have a rare gynecological issue, that at least she was in love with one of the best OB/GYN in Seattle and in her opinion, the best woman in the world.
What did you think? If you have any prompts, I'm looking for some new ideas for Marina so let me know if there's anything you'd like to see me write! Thanks for reading!