So when you are spending Easter 900 miles away from your family and are fighting all the sad feeling that come with that, apparently, writing is the best way to deal with it. I don't know. But here is the next chapter.
"I think I might," Maya said, tears filling her eyes, "It's really hard to breathe right now. I used the pulse ox, and it said my O2 is 100, but I feel really bad."
"Ok," Vic said, kicking into full paramedic mode, "Let me see your hands."
Maya held out her shaky hands, Vic flicking on the lamp to better see her friend's skin.
"Damn it," Vic said, seeing the bluish tint Maya's finger nail beds were getting, "You are cyanotic. Sit tight. I'm going to grab your wallet and phone. Anything else?"
"Headphones?" Maya asked, coughing again, "And phone charger."
Vic quickly gathered everything Maya would need before both of them pulled on their masks and Vic helped Maya down to the car, the blonde having to stop twice to catch her breath. She seriously thought about calling the station and getting an aid car, but she knew she would get Maya there faster.
"It's going to be ok," Vic said as she saw tears filling her friend's eyes, "Just relax. Grey Sloan is going to get you feeling better soon."
Vic was honestly terrified at how sick Maya looked right now, driving as quickly as she could to the hospital.
"I guess I take you to the ER?" Vic said, realizing she had no idea what to do with her friend if they weren't arriving in the rig.
"Covid entrance," Maya said, "There's a Covid entrance around the back."
Vic nodded, driving as quickly as she could to where Maya was talking about.
As they pulled up, a nurse came to the car, "How can I help you?"
"We were diagnosed with COVID-19 four days ago, and she is having a hard time breathing," Vic said, looking at the nurse, "She's slightly cyanotic too."
"Alright," the nurse said, "Can I grab some quick vitals out here?"
"Of course," Vic said as Maya nodded.
The nurse came back a second later with a thermometer, blood pressure cuff, and pulse ox.
"Ok," the nurse said as Maya opened the door, "Now, this will tell me…"
"My oxygen," Maya said, coughing, "I am a fire captain."
"So you know the drill," the nurse nodded, grabbing Maya's vitals quickly and writing them down, "Alright, heart rate is higher than normal, but your temp is 104.1 and your oxygen is 84 so that would explain that. With oxygen that low, we are going to admit you, get you on some oxygen and try to get your fever down a little. I'm going to go grab a wheelchair and get you into a room. You are not going to be able to come with your friend. "
"I know," Vic nodded as the nurse left, "I guess we need to get a new pulse ox. Yours is clearly broken. You gonna be ok by yourself?"
"I need to call Carina," Maya started, coughing.
"I'll call her," Vic nodded, "Don't worry about it."
The nurse came back with a wheelchair, helping Maya out of the car.
"Call me when you can Maya," Vic said as the blonde sat down in the chair without a fight which made Vic even more worried, having seen Maya fight a wheelchair many times.
"Thanks Vic," Maya rasped out.
"Alright," the nurse said, bringing her in, "Dr. Deluca is waiting for you."
"Carina?" Maya asked, coughing as the nurse wheeled her through the plastic drapes of the COVID ward.
"No, Andrew," the nurse said, "Why, are you a patient of the other Dr. Deluca?"
"Maya?" Andrew said, eyes wide as he saw who his patient was, "Carina said you were doing alright."
"Started having a hard time breathing," Maya coughed as Andrew helped her into the bed.
"Clare, this is my sister's girlfriend, Captain Maya Bishop," Andrew said, looking at the nurse.
"Now I understand," Clare nodded, getting Maya hooked up to monitors, "Nice to finally meet you Maya, although I wish it were under different circumstances."
Maya nodded as Andrew started listening to her lungs.
"Ok," Andrew said, "Your lungs don't sound terrible. I want a chest x-ray to confirm, but your oxygen, while not what I could like, is not terrible. We are going to get you on some oxygen. Hopefully that will bring up your levels. You are probably going to be staying with us for a few days until we get you maintaining your sats on your own. Have you been having any gastrointestinal issues?"
"Yeah," Maya nodded, "Keeping anything down has been hit or miss."
"We are going to get you on an IV and some Zofran too then," Andrew said, looking to the nurse, "And I can page Carina if you want."
"Don't want her to get sick," Maya said, shaking her head.
"She's going to be wearing full PPE, just like me if she comes in here," Andrew said, grabbing the oxygen tubing, getting it on Maya before the blonde put her mask back on, "Do you want me to page her?"
Maya nodded, really wanting her girlfriend right now because all of this was super overwhelming.
"Let us just finish getting vitals and paperwork and then I will page her, ok?" Andrew said, looking over Maya's intake paperwork, "So your temp is 104.1. We are going to give you something to bring that down a little. Clare here is just going to get a quick IV going, ok?"
Maya nodded, wincing a little as the nurse stuck and IV in her hand.
It took another five minutes for Andrew and Clare to get Maya situated and get a chest x-ray, but as soon as she was, Andrew went to page Carina.
"Can I get you anything?" Clare asked, setting an emesis bag next to her just in case.
"Can I have some blankets?" Maya asked, chills running through her sick body.
"Of course," the nurse said, leaving the room.
The door to Maya's room opened, and the blonde looked over, expecting the nurse, but instead seeing Carina.
"Oh Bambina," Carina said, quickly closing the gap between the two of them.
As soon as she saw her girlfriend, Maya felt like it was getting harder and harder to breathe.
"Hey," Carina said, taking Maya's hand, "It's ok. Are you having a panic attack?"
Maya nodded as an alarm started going off, indicating that her oxygen was going down and her heartrate up. There were suddenly three people running into her room.
"She's having a panic attack," Carina said before anyone got too close, "Give me a few minutes."
"Does she need something to help?" Clare asked as the other people left.
"No," Maya rasped between ragged breaths.
"I will call if that changes," Carina nodded, turning her full attention back to her girlfriend, "Ok. Come on Bambina, eyes right here."
Carina succeeded in getting Maya to calm down and breathe better after a few minutes.
"There you go," Carina said, nodding as Maya relaxed a little, "Better?"
Maya nodded a little, rubbing her eyes.
"Ok," Carina said, looking up at Maya's monitor, seeing that her heartrate was coming down and her oxygen was back to 99.
"Sorry," Maya said, feeling like she needed to say it though not knowing why.
"There's nothing to apologize for," Carina said, shaking her head, "Are you feeling ok?"
"Yeah," Maya nodded, looking over at Carina, "I guess."
"I'm sorry you are going through this, Bambina," Carina said, holding Maya's hand in her own gloved hand.
"I'm tired," Maya said, struggling to keep her eyes open.
"Sleep Bambina," Carina nodded, "I have to go back to work, but I will come visit when I can."
"Love you," Maya mumbled, eyes slipping shit.
"Love you too," Carina said, just sitting there for a minute after Maya fall asleep, watching her chest rise and fall as she tried to shut the worried voices in her head up.
After a few minutes, she stood, leaving her girlfriend's room. As she turned, she ran into Andrew.
"Are you ok?" he asked, seeing the look on his sister's face.
"What do you think?" Carina said, giving him a look, "My girlfriend, the woman who I think might be the love of my life, just got admitted to the hospital for a virus that has killed a quarter of a million people just in this country so far. No, I am not ok. I am terrified."
"Hey," Andrew said, pulling her into a supply closet, "I know it's scary, but Maya is a fighter. She is doing ok for now. Her chest x-ray looks good, and she's only on 1 L of oxygen and she's at 99% saturation which is good. I am going to make sure she is taken care of."
"But things can turn so quickly," Carina sighed, "And what if she ends up on a vent or worse…"
"Let's cross that bridge when we get there," Andrew said, pulling his sister into a hug to calm her down a little.
She just held him for a minute, soaking up her baby brother's comfort.
"Ok?" he said, looking at her.
She nodded, pulling up her PAPR and grabbing a tissue, wiping the tears off her face.
"I am going to keep an eye on her," Andrew said, nodding at her, "Are you still on shift?"
"Until 8 am," Carina nodded, getting her gear back on.
"Ok," he said, "Go finish your shift. I promise I will page you if anything changes. You can stop by when you are done working, but Carina, it is important you stay healthy too."
"Lo so," Carina nodded as they walked out of the supply closet.
Meanwhile, back at the apartment, Vic was trying to calm herself down after dropping Maya off at the hospital. She had texted Carina, letting her know what was going on.
The Italian woman texted her back, telling her she had seen Maya, and that she was looking better with a little oxygen and some fluids.
Vic sat down on the couch, looking at the time, seeing it was around 5 am. She decided to call Travis, knowing that Andy needed to sleep in order to get better.
"Hello?" Travis said tiredly as he answered her call, turning on his nightstand light so he could see better, "Vic? Is everything ok?"
"I just had to take Maya to the hospital," Vic said, tears filling her eyes, "She was cyanotic and her temp was over 104 and she was having a hard time breathing and Andy is sleeping and I just needed someone to talk to. Sorry I woke you up."
"Don't apologize," Travis said, shaking his head as he woke up more, "Is Maya ok?"
"Carina said she saw her," Vic said, rubbing her eyes, "And that she's on some oxygen and doing better with it."
"Are you ok?" Travis asked.
"I don't know," Vic said, "I mean, physically, I feel alright. Maybe a little feverish and achy, but that's really it. Mentally and emotionally, I feel drained and exhausted and terrified that I just saw one of my best friends for the last time."
"It's not going to be the last time," Travis said, shaking his head.
"Yeah, but what if it is?" Vic said, "What if she gets sicker and ends up dying. You know Jackson and his friends used to call that hospital Seattle Grace Mercy Death? What if Maya never leaves? What if she…"
"We are not going to think about that right now," Travis said, cutting her off, "Right now, we are not going to think that anything bad is going to happen to Maya. She is strong. She is going to pull through and be just time."
"But what if…" Vic started, but Travis interrupted.
"No what ifs right now," Travis said, "If we go down that road, then it is going to get really dark and that is not what you need right now, ok?"
Vic nodded, wiping her tears away.
"Tell me what you have been doing," Vic said, having not facetimed with Travis in a few days because she was sleeping and helping her friends.
"Well, after we talked last, I baked three more loaves of bread," Travis said, "I can drop some off for you guys tomorrow after I get tested."
"I'm sure Andy will love it if she still has her sense of taste or smell," Vic said, shaking her head, "Although if the texture is good, I'll probably eat it."
"I forgot you had that symptom," Travis said, "Well, if you guys need anything else, I can get that too."
"I am good," Vic said, "But I'll ask Andy when she wakes up."
"Just let me know," Travis said, "Let's see, what else did I do? I reorganized my closet. I think I might have it at maximum efficiency once I get used to where everything is. I also planned meals for the next month which will be perfect if I never have to work overtime or get called in when I'm not working. And then I watched RuPaul's Drag Race… again."
"Sounds like a good few days," Vic said, smiling at him as she yawned.
"Go sleep Vic," Travis said, "You need your strength to get better."
"I need to tell Andy about Maya," Vic said, looking at the time, seeing it was only 5:30 am, "Although, she will probably sleep for another few hours."
"Go rest," Travis said, "And call me later if you need me or if you hear anything about Maya."
"Thanks for talking Trav," Vic said, getting off the couch and heading to her room.
"Any time, you know that," Travis said as Vic climbed into bed, "Sleep well."
Vic hung up, plugging her phone in before closing her eyes, letting sleep take over and alleviate her worries, even if it was just for a little while.
What did you think? Is Maya going to be ok? Thanks for reading! I don't know when I will have time to update again because of work, but I hope within the next week.