Maya hardly even realised that her feet must have carried her back home. She reached inside her front pocket for her keys but came up empty. She knocked on the door and half expected Carina to have left; she had no idea how much time had passed since she had left.

However, Carina opened the door almost instantly: "Maya... are you okay?" She looked as pale as a ghost and was shaking slightly. Maya didn't reply, stepped inside and sat down on a kitchen chair. Carina hesitantly followed her, not keen on continuing their earlier fight, slightly afraid that she would start yelling again. Getting Maya a glass of water though, she took in her appearance. Her pale face was covered in sweat, her white t-shirt was crumpled and her jeans and shirt had grass stains on them. Most disconcerting to Carina however, was Maya's empty gaze and her frozen, paralysed posture.

"Maya, are you okay? Did something happen to you?" No reaction. Carina gently took Maya's hands, only then did she startle and look up to her.

"Are you okay Bambina?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just tired.", Maya replied distantly.

She seemed in no way up to a conversation.

"Okay, let's go to bed."

Maya just nodded and let Carina lead her into the bedroom and undress her. Her body functioned on auto-pilot, she could hear what Carina was saying but it was all far away, as if she was looking down on herself. Carina dressed her in her pyjamas and tucked her in. Maya fell asleep in an instant. Carina couldn't stop ruminating over the fight they'd had earlier. And where had Maya gone and what had happened? She had never seen Maya in a state like this. What was she supposed to do now? Would Maya finally talk to her the next day? She tossed and turned for some time, watching the woman beside her sleep. "Why can't you let me in that stubborn head of yours for once?", Carina thought. In the end, Carina must have succumbed to sleep at some point because she woke up the next day, hearing Maya getting up next to her.

"Where are you going?", Carina asked sleepily.

"I'm going for a run.", Maya replied already about to leave the bedroom.

Carina only sighed but didn't think that arguing would do either of them any good at the moment. She got up an hour later and made coffee, just sitting in the kitchen waiting for Maya to return. She came in about half an hour later and headed straight into the bathroom again. Carina was on her third cup of coffee when Maya sat down opposite her. She looked exhausted and defeated. Carina placed a mug of coffee in front of her.

"Thanks", Maya mumbled, looking down.

"Maya can we talk about this?", Carina asked carefully after a few minutes of silence in which it didn't look like Maya was making an attempt to speak to her.

"Look, I don't want to fight with you again.", Maya almost snapped.

"Bambina, I'm just worried about you.", Carina tried to persuade her.

"Well, there's nothing to worry about.", she said fiercely, getting up and going towards the bedroom. Frustration overtook Carina. She knew how powerful denial could be but she had hoped that Maya would come around after the night they have had. She was at a loss, she didn't know what else to do and quite frankly she had to take care of herself, too. She loved Maya, but she was a grown woman and there was little she could do if Maya refused every offer of help she made. They basically avoided each other for the rest of the day. In the evening Maya left for her shift more than an hour earlier than would have been necessary. Carina felt a sense of relief as soon as Maya had closed the front door behind her and immediately felt guilty. But this day had felt like walking on eggshells around someone who could explode at any time. Carina had not dared to offer Maya any food and had just told her that there was some for her in the kitchen. As far as Carina had seen, Maya had only eaten a banana around mid-day, which worried her immensely, especially since Maya was about to start a 24 hour long shift. Carina had gone to bed early because she had to get up at 6 am for her shift tomorrow. She couldn't fall asleep however with how much she worried about Maya. She almost decided to text Andy or Vic but decided against it as she remembered how had reacted when she had told her that she had talked to her friends about her. In the end she decided to text Maya. Thinking that telling Maya that she was there was all she could do right now, she finally fell asleep.

Maya wasn't doing much better on her end. Travis had insisted that she had to try his new chilli sin carne and she couldn't find the strength to argue with him. A little later she found herself on the cold bathroom floor tiles, throwing up once again. For some reason, tears started rolling down her face and before she could go back to her office, sobs started etching her body. She just couldn't do this anymore. She was exhausted and the one person she could trust now hated her. She had messes it up once again. She should have known that she would never be good enough for Carina. She was too broken, too messed up. After washing her face in an attempt to make her eyes look less puffy, she went back to her office and saw that she had gotten a text from Carina. Her first instinct was to ignore it but she was so vulnerable and exhausted right now, so she opened the message: Hey Bambina. Please read this, no matter how angry you are. I love you. I can see that you are hurting so much and that you are exhausted. I'm not angry with you. I hope that you're ready to talk to me, soon. I'll be here. Please be careful. Ti amo, Bella. Carina xx.