AN: In preparation for writing this chapter, I read a reddit post that used clues from the show to determine around how old Maya and Carina are intended to be in the show. Obviously there is a significant age gap between them (the author of the comment that I read deduced that it was around seven years due to the reported ages that Carina and Andrew were when Andrew and their mom moved to America, and Maya being around 23 when she acquired her gold medal in the 2012 Olympics). That would make them 33 and 40 in present time. However, because I have made Carina and Maya the same in age in this story, that would make them both 33. Realistically that would make Carina rather young for where she is in her career, but it wouldn't be the first time that a doctor at Grey Sloan was younger than they were supposed to be. I looked it up, and it said an OB/GYN residency can take 3-7 years, so we'll just go ahead and say that Carina fast tracked it, and only did three or four. Anyways, figured I'd just put that all out there ahead of time so that it's not confusing. -L
Senior Year, Graduation
Carina admired herself in the mirror. She had just picked up her cap and gown from the office at school, and had immediately come home to try it on. She had been going to school more or less every day for the past 13 years, and although she knew she was far from done, a consolation of her dream of becoming a doctor, the end of high school was still a big deal. It was definitely the biggest milestone she had accomplished, closely followed of course by the nearly three years that she and Maya had been together. She had been done with classes for a week already, and spent her mornings at the beach watching Maya train, and teasing Andrew, who still had a month left before his own summer began. The beach training had been Lane's idea. He'd told Maya that if she wanted to ensure a winning performance at the Olympics that she needed to be the best. In order to be the best, she needed to be overly prepared, and what better way to do so than to run on an impossible terrain: sand. Maya agreed under the condition that Carina got to come along to their training sessions. "Whatever," Lane had reluctantly agreed, "As long as she stays out of the way." Carina was happy to go. She got to keep an eye on Maya, to ensure that Lane wasn't being too tough on her, all the while getting to go surfing, build sandcastles, and bask in the sun as the ferry boats roared past from afar.
Carina liked ferry boats. They were one of the things that had initially drawn her to Seattle. After her mother had died, and Carina had made the decision to take her father to America, she had spent months trying to pick the perfect spot. Andrew and her mom had settled in Wisconsin, but although the whole point of going to America was to avoid yanking Andrew away from his support system right after losing his mother, the thought of living in Wisconsin made Carina want to take a visit to Italy's highest cliff dive. A dive that had been shut down on many occasions due to unexpected deaths. In fact, they were hardly unexpected anymore. She'd ultimately landed on Seattle, because it had the best facilities to handle her father's illness, but the ferry boats had been an added bonus. Carina had been debating whether to get her father a ticket to graduation. It was risky, but she was proud of herself, and despite their issues and his issues, she loved her dad more than anything, and wanted to make him proud. However, that would have meant sticking Andrew with the job of keeping an eye on him and making sure that he didn't run away or wreak havoc on the ceremony. As important to her as her father was, the most important man in her life was her brother and making him proud meant even more to her.
In addition to the question of who would look after him, bringing Vince into the same space as Maya would have meant introducing them, and she could only imagine how terribly that would go. Maya was already killing herself trying to live up to the expectations of her own father. If she also tried to live up to Vince's impossible standards for the hypothetical love interests of his children, Carina might as well take Maya with her on her visit to the deadly cliff dive. Plus Vince was about as thrilled about the idea of Carina dating women as Lane was, if not less. The more she thought about it, the more she realized that inviting her dad was inviting disaster. Instead, Carina planned to ask the AV club if they could set up a camera in the back of the auditorium. She would go to her father's facility the next morning with a DVD, her diploma, and a bowl of popcorn. When it was over, she would tell him that Andrew was reaching the age that she trusted him to be okay on his own. She would tell him about her acceptance to UCLA, and how she planned to go. She'd tell him that after college, she hoped to go medical school in Maryland. She'd admit that she wasn't sure when she'd be back in Seattle for good, but that she would visit as often as she could. When she was done, she'd give him a hug and a kiss on the cheek, and hope that he would be in a good enough mood to handle the news.
Carina and Maya had received their acceptances to UCLA on the same day. Maya had been recruited for track, complete with an athletic scholarship, and a chance to run varsity as a freshman. The coaches were excited to have a runner on their roster that was at the top of every Olympic hopeful magazine in the country. In preparation for the 2008 Olympics that summer, not only were the sports reporters covering the current trials, they were also looking ahead to 2012, in which the track and field discussion was all about Maya Bishop from Seattle. Carina had been accepted to UCLA's Pre-Med program with an academic scholarship as well as a grant that was awarded solely to immigrants from countries that spoke a Romance language. In order to qualify, Carina had written a second personal narrative, this one entirely in Italian with the prompt of what brought her to America.
UCLA was both of their top choices. In the case that only one of them, or neither of them, had been accepted, they had both been prepared to find a job at their respective university that would allot them the nest egg they needed to maintain a healthy long-distance relationship. Given that UCLA was the only school that overlapped on the list of those that they had applied to, the months between the deadline and the decision had been tense. However, they had made it through with the knowledge that should they end up at separate schools, they loved each other enough to make it work. In fact, the uncertainty had perhaps even strengthened their relationship. However, they were both glad that said uncertainty was over, and that they could instead look forward to spending the next four years together, as they had the last three.
…
Carina had woken up the day they'd received their letters with a migraine and a stomachache. Regrettably, the night before had been dedicated to drinking vodka shots and playing beer pong. Despite attempting to see Carina as often as she could, Maya was swamped with training, so Carina had been spending the majority of her time with friends. Dionne's older sister, Amber, went to Seattle Central College, and her roommate's twin brother, Corey, who just happened to have the hots for Dionne was a member Central's Phi Theta Kappa sector. He'd snuck Dionne, Carina, and a few other girls into their end of the semester rager. Carina groaned, and rolled over, blinding feeling around on the left side of the bed to see if Maya had spent the night. She often came over after she was done for the day, at which point Andrew would let her in, and she would go up to Carina's room and wrap her arms around her. Lately, due to the excessive partying, Carina often didn't know whether this had occurred until she woke up in the morning. This particular morning Maya's side of the bed was cold and empty, and Carina pouted. She knew that her hangover was her own fault, but she'd been hoping for cuddles, nonetheless. However, before she had the chance to wallow in her misery, her phone rang.
"Shhh," Carina muttered into the speaker.
"Well hello to you too, beautiful," Maya said in response, "I take it you had fun at the party last night." Carina groaned, just the thought of the amount of alcohol she'd consumed causing an aggressive wave of nausea.
"Let's just say that I am greater at drinking alcohol than shooting balls into cups of it."
"I'm sorry, but I'm going to need you to get out of bed."
"Nooo perché," (why) Carina whined.
"Because Andrew is not home, and I am standing on your front porch with two letters from UCLA, and I need you to come let me in." It took her longer than it should have to process what Maya had said, but the second she realized what envelopes Maya was referring to, she bolted upright.
"Maya, did you say what I think you just said?" she asked, not entirely trusting her hungover brain.
"Carina, I did."
"In arrivo!" (Coming!) She could hear Maya laughing as she ended the call. Carina stood up slowly, not wanting to exacerbate the headache or the nausea by moving too fast. She took it one step at a time, and a minute or so later arrived in the foyer. When she opened the door, the sight in front of her made her forget all about how ill she felt. Maya was standing there in Carina's favorite shirt and a pair of jeans that accentuated the lower half of her body in all the right places. She was juggling a bouquet of blue and yellow forget-me-nots and the UCLA envelopes in one hand, and in the other was a takeout box from their favorite diner in Seattle. The scent of French toast was so strong Carina could almost taste it, and the box was dripping with bacon grease. Not only had Maya showed up looking sexy as ever, she had brought flowers and hangover remedy food. Carina was not sure she had ever loved her more.
"Bambiiinaa." She was speechless. She grabbed Maya by the shirt collar and pulled her into the house. She transferred the contents of Maya's hands to the front dresser. When she was sure that nothing was going to fall, she tangled her hands in Maya's hair, and kissed her hard. Maya obliged, kissing her back harder. Carina grabbed a clump of Maya's hair with one hand and pulled, the other hand slipping downward to cup her ass. Maya moaned into Carina's mouth, nipping at her bottom lip. She allowed herself to get lost in the kiss for just a second longer, before she pulled away.
"As much as I am appreciating this greeting, we have college letters to open, and you missy need to eat something." she said. Carina frowned and crossed her arms in front of her chest.
"Fine," she muttered.
"You're cute." Maya kissed Carina on the cheek and grabbed the food and flowers off of the dresser, leaving the letters behind to be opened after breakfast. She walked into the kitchen and took the vase from its spot on the counter to the sink to fill with water. When the flowers were situated, Maya unpacked the food as Carina watched on from afar, her mouthwatering. Carina honestly wasn't sure if was the French toast or Maya herself that was causing it.
"Maya?"
"Yes, Carina?"
"Sei incredibile. Grazie per food and flowers, e tu con quei pantaloni." Maya turned to look at her, a soft smile on her face.
"You're welcome, beautiful. What was that last part?"
"Nothing."
"Hmm, I do not think it was nothing. It definitely meant something."
"Okay…'E tu con quei pantaloni' means 'and you in those pants,'" Carina replied, a blush spreading across her face. Maya giggled, and shot her a wink.
"I know, I just wanted to hear you say it."
"Mayaaa."
"I'm sorry. It's just too easy sometimes."
"I hope that you know you just lost your title as best fidanzata in the world."
"No I didn't."
"No." Carina sighed dramatically, "You didn't." Maya moved so that she was standing next to Carina. She reached up and tucked some of Carina's hair behind her ears. It was clear that she hadn't brushed it since she'd left the house the night before, and Maya didn't think it could get cuter than Carina with post wild night out bed head.
"You're so beautiful, Carina. You know that right?"
"Fuck, why do you make it so hard to be mad at you?"
"Because you weren't actually mad at me, you were just trying to be," Maya pointed out. "Also I'm just too lovable."
"Ughh, you're right. Dio." Maya smiled, sticking her tongue out. Carina smiled too and stuck her tongue out right back.
"What do you say, want to come sit and eat French toast and bacon with me?" Maya suggested. Carina nodded, and the pair made their way to the table.
When they were done, Maya jogged over the dresser, and came back with the letters.
"You ready?" she asked. Carina looked up at her, her eyes apprehensive. It slowly dissipated, shifting into a smirk. Maya cocked her head, as if to say "what?"
"You've got a little— here I'll just get it." Carina lifted her thumb to the side of Maya's mouth and ran it along the edge of her lip to wipe away the remaining syrup that Maya had missed with her napkin. When it was clean, she withdrew her thumb, slowly dragging Maya's bottom lip down in the process, before letting it bounce back up. They maintained intense eye contact the whole time Carina was doing this, unable to look away from each other.
"You are evil."
"Just returning the favor." Carina leaned in, as if she were going to kiss Maya, but instead she yanked the envelopes from her hand. Before Maya even got the chance to react, Carina sliced one of them open with her finger. She pulled out the letter, and read it silently, trying not to let her face give it away. When she'd finished, she looked up at Maya.
"What did it say?" Maya asked, not entirely sure that she actually wanted an answer. Carina slowly began to smile, then she was beaming.
"You got in, bella! I'm so so proud of you." Maya looked at her, not moving.
"I did?"
"Si, Maya. You're going to UCLA." Unable to wait any longer, and not feeling like she could celebrate without knowing whether Carina would be going with her, she reached out her hand. Carina gave her the remaining envelope. She opened it slowly and took out the letter. Unlike Carina, Maya was unable to hide her smile.
"Carina DeLuca, we are pleased to inform you that you have been admitted to the University of California, Los Angeles Class of 2012," she read aloud.
"We're going to college together?" Carina paused, "Oh mio dio, Maya, we're going to college together!" The letters dropped to the floor as both girls jumped forward, squealing as they grabbed each other in a hug. They proceeded to hop up and down, yelling about how they were going to college together. When the initial excitement had died down, the girls had looked at each other, hungrily, and retreated to Carina's bedroom to celebrate properly.
…
Carina smiled as she relived the memory. It had been one of their first experiences where they had really taken the time to admire each other's bodies, truly making love instead of just fishing for pleasure. She looked in the mirror again, and smoothed down her hair, before placing the cap on her head to complete the graduation look. Carina picked up her phone and snapped a picture of herself. She sent it to Maya. what do you think? The reply came almost as fast as was possible to text on a blackberry. i think you are one sexy graduate is what i think. Carina chuckled. did you get the chance to pick yours up yet? She heard the door open downstairs; Andrew was home. headed there now. just finished 5k. Carina shook her head. She couldn't believe how nonchalant Maya was about having casually run a 5k. proud of you 3 come over once you have it?
"Knock knock," Andrew yelled from outside Carina's room.
"Si accomodi." (Come in.) of course. is andrew home by any chance? The door opened, and Andrew walked in, followed by Mason.
"Ciao," Andrew said, dramatically falling onto Carina's bed with a huff. si. Carina looked at Andrew with amusement.
"Ciao," she replied, then looked at Mason, "What's with him?" can you ask him if he knows where mason is? Mason shook his head and rolled his eyes playfully. don't need to. both of them just walked into my room.
"He's upset because he asked the girl that he likes to sign his yearbook and all she wrote was 'have a great summer, Drew.'" oh perfetto! be there soon. Andrew let out an aggressive sigh.
"Not even. She wrote the actual abbreviation H.A.G.S. This whole time I thought that we had something, and she couldn't even gather the human decency to write out the whole phrase." va bene. see u soon. be ready for girl drama. Carina stepped out of her gown and draped it over the bed frame. Then she sat down next to her brother. uh oh. what kind?
"Andrea, are you sure that she was aware of this thing in between the two of you?" Carina teased. andrea got rejected.Andrew glared at her. aw :( oh no. is he ok?
"Rude." he will be. not sure we should go to that grad party tonite tho.
"Well, bud, it sounds to me as if she is not worth your time of day." that's ok. i am happy to skip it for andrew's sake. we should spend time w/the bros before we have to leave, anyways.
"The time of day," Andrew mumbled, "She's not worth the time of day."
"So you agree?" Carina smiled mischievously. Andrew shot her another glare. u r right.
"You're no help. When's Maya getting here?" ok gtg. driving over now.
"She's not going to be much help either, I'm afraid," Mason cut in, "Do you remember last year when I had that really bad date with Melissa? When I told Maya about it, she wouldn't stop making jokes about how I dodged a bullet because both of our names start with M and everyone at school would have called us M&M forever."
"Yeah that's because she's your sister," Andrew pointed out, "Do you remember what else you did after that bad date?"
"Came here and talked to Carina about it," Mason replied.
"Yes, and I was the perfect guru," Carina said. Mason looked at her and smiled. She was right. She had given him very good advice, which had made him feel better.
"My point, exactly. That's why we need these stupide."
"I am going to ignore that, and pretend that you said something nice," Carina paused, "But I am going to tell Maya when she gets here and we'll see if she still helps you."
"Not fair."
"Well you should have thought about that before you opened your stupido mouth." The banter continued until Maya arrived around ten minutes later.
Carina and Maya had just finished forcing the boys to take a prom style photoshoot of the two of them in their cap and gowns when Maya glanced at the time on her watch.
"Oh, shit." she said.
"Cosa?" Carina asked.
"We have to be at the ceremony in 45 minutes," then to Mason, "Mason, we should probably head home. I think Dad wanted us to all show up together." Mason nodded and grabbed his sketchbook and pencil. While Andrew was taking pictures, he'd been drawing them. Mason didn't have his own source of income, and he'd wanted to give Maya a gift for graduation without having to spend his dad's money. He figured that a drawing of her and the love of her life was as good a gift as any. Maya hugged Carina goodbye and gave her a quick kiss.
"I will see you in an hour. I cannot wait to watch you walk across the stage, and cheer so loud that all the windows in the auditorium shatter," she said.
"As long as we do not have to pay for damages, I am on board," Carina replied.
"If need-be we'll make my dad pay. It is his fault that my lungs are so strong, after all. Weren't you telling me the other day that there are a lot of similarities between singers' lungs and runners' lungs?"
"Oh, true. Bene bene."
"Okay, jokes aside, I do need to get going. I love you!" She turned towards Andrew, "Farewell, brother. Remember what I said about when the time is right!" Andrew smiled, giving her a wave.
"Love you more!" Carina blew Maya a kiss as she headed for the front yard, Mason following close behind. "Ciao, Mason."
"Bye, Carina." Carina watched anxiously as Mason and Maya drove away. Despite the fact that she was going to see both of them in less than an hour, it didn't make it any easier. Every time Maya went home, Carina worried. Being aware that Lane was emotionally abusive could only go so far to prevent the abuse from having an effect, from harming the way that Maya thought about herself and destroying her self image. Also, just because Lane hadn't gotten physical with any of them yet didn't mean that he never would. It was scary to knowingly send her girlfriend and her honorary brother into that situation every single day. However, she knew that they didn't have another option. If Maya and Mason came to stay with Carina and Andrew, that would just put all of them at risk of Lane's wrath; if there was anything that would make him escalate, that would be it.
"They'll be okay," Andrew said. He knew exactly what his sister was thinking, because he was thinking the same thing. He figured that saying it out loud wouldn't hurt to increase the chances that it was true. "Katherine might not be able to stand up to Lane, but he's not going to let him do them any serious harm."
"I fear that it is too late for that."
"Physical harm, I mean."
"Si. Promise me something?"
"Anything."
"Keep inviting Mason over after Maya and I go away to school."
"Mason is one of the only people at Garfield that I actually like. Don't worry. He will be over here all the time."
"Bene." Carina knew that Maya was excited to get as far away from her dad as possible, but that at least for the first couple of years, getting as far away as possible from her dad meant being equally as from away from Mason. They hadn't officially talked about it, but Carina could see the gears turning a mile a minute inside Maya's head everytime they talked about their move to LA. Maya felt so much responsibility for Mason's wellbeing. She felt responsible for making sure that Lane's abuse wasn't able to put down roots in Mason as it had in her. She hadn't been apart from Mason more than a week since he was born. Now she was relinquishing that responsibility to move to the other side of the country, and although going to UCLA was what she wanted, she felt incredibly guilty. She felt as if she was neglecting Mason, leaving him behind with no shelter in the middle of hurricane Lane— a category five.
Carina couldn't blame her for feeling that way. It was the same reason why she'd encouraged Andrew to go with their mom all those years before. Similarly to how many immigrant parents that come to America have sacrificed so much to get there just so that they can give their children a better life, with more opportunities than they had. When it came to children of abuse, the older sibling believed that they must make the sacrifice of taking on the grunt of the abuse so that their sibling could have as normal, and easy, a life as possible. This was still true in situations where they were unaware that they were even being abused; it was an instinctive action. The thought of going to California in her own interest and leaving her little brother behind, alone, with their dad went against every primal bone in Maya's body. Carina's part in making that decision to leave easier for Maya was to ensure that there would still be someone around to look out for Mason.
Carina shifted in her seat. She hadn't remembered the beginning of the ceremony being quite so long in the past. Unfortunately, their school happened to have quite a lot of students with C last names, so Carina was sitting on the completely opposite side of the auditorium from Maya. She wished that there were two more kids with last names ahead of her. Just two, and she could have been sitting directly behind her girl. She could have held her hand under the seat, or given her a massage, or whispered words of affirmation into her ear. Instead she was sitting next to the smelly kid from her homeroom who didn't seem to know what deodorant was. Sure, Italians were known for being pro natural scent. In this case, though, deodorant would have done Dennis some good. His parents had already made his life hard enough with a name like Dennis Derriere. Carina was not sure she would ever forget the chant: "Dennis Dennis Derriere smells like a derriere" was forever implanted in her brain. She felt incredibly sorry for him and had always told her classmates to back off when given the chance. However, that did not make it pleasant to sit next to him, because, unfortunately, his last name was a fitting description of his natural scent. The order of last names was interesting. While Dennis was on Carina's right, Matt Delaney was on her left. Matt Delaney was the most popular kid at Garfield. Surprisingly he was also one of the only guys from their graduating class who didn't make fun of Dennis.
Carina had been so lost in her thoughts that she'd missed the announcement that the presentation of diplomas was beginning, and the loud applause that followed the first name nearly made her jump out of her seat. She was glad for the wakeup call though, because there was only one name in the class that came before Bishop. Carina slid forward in her seat, ready to give a full-blown performance.
"Maya Bishop." As she watched her girlfriend walk briskly to the stage, Carina jumped up, cheering so loudly she could barely hear herself think.
"That's my girl!" she yelled as Maya shook their principal's hand, and he placed her diploma in the other one. Maya turned towards her and gave her a great big smile. Carina laughed and blew her a few kisses.
"And here to present Ms. Bishop with the 'most likely to go pro' award, her father, and our very own track and field coach, Coach Bishop." There were a few scattered cheers amongst the crowd when Lane emerged from backstage. As Maya would later tell Carina, the proud father act that he put on as he handed her the award was very much that, an act. In reality, he'd whispered, "If it was up to me this would have gone to someone who actually works hard, but fortunately for you, it was not up to me," into her ear. Charming. Maya took the trophy from her dad's hand, and Carina cheered once again, this time yelling, "That's my track star!" However, Carina wasn't the only one who had something to say.
"Future gold medalist right there!" Andrew and Mason added in unison. Carina and Maya both smiled as they glanced in the direction of their brothers.
Around twenty minutes later, Matt Delaney was called up. Carina was on deck. The moment that she had been working towards for the past 13 years was almost upon her.
"Carina DeLuca." As she walked towards the stage, Carina was worried that the sound that Maya was emitting may actually cause some broken glass.
"I love you, Carina DeLuca!" Carina shook the hand that the principal was extending towards her, and graciously took her diploma.
"Is there a doctor here? We need a doctor. Oh, wait, there's a future doctor right there!" Carina rolled her eyes. Her cheeks were flushed red with embarrassment, but she couldn't have wished for better brothers.
When everyone had received their diploma, and the valedictorian had finished her speech, they were called back onto the stage. It was time to solidify the end of their high school careers, and to leave their legacy behind as the official Garfield High graduating class of 2008, frozen in time forever. Carina found Maya and intertwined their hands. Maya smiled and lifted their joined hands to her lips for a kiss.
"I'm so proud of you, Carina."
"I'm so proud of you, bella. I can't wait to start this new chapter of our lives together."
"Me either." They focused on each other, blocking out their surroundings, planning to only see one another during such a defining moment.
"Okay class let's do this," Julie Hick, the valedictorian, announced. Everyone placed a hand on their head in preparation, "On three. 3…2…1…go." Carina and Maya leaned forward, their lips connecting like the opposing ends of a magnet just as hundreds of caps flew into the air, and the flash of a camera illuminated the stage. They were officially high school graduates.