Ever since that strange moment in the locker room, Marjan had been trying to discreetly avoid Nancy. It wasn't that she didn't like her or that she didn't want her around, but she continued to feel like she had no control over her feelings when she got too close to her. So Marjan kept her distance, reinforcing her boundaries, and tried to continue with her work.
Luckily, Tommy had decided that it was time to find another paramedic for their medical team, and her office door had become a revolving door of applicants as the search wasn't going well at all. The first candidate seemed to be a good fit at the start, but apparently head butted a nearby civilian on a call, and needless to say, that just wasn't going to fly with Tommy. The second candidate passed out on his first call, resulting in them having to call a second ambulance to deal with him. Marjan didn't think he even returned to the station, likely calling in his resignation from the hospital.
The third candidate seemed nice, but incredibly clumsy, most likely due to nerves. He had just knocked over the oxygen canisters before his starting run, causing a couple to fly around the garage and almost hit T.K. as he was coming down the stairs. And now the three of them were out on the actual call, and Marjan was absolutely, definitely not watching the clock, waiting anxiously for Nancy to come back safe.
She snuck another peek at the clock, the large hand indicating that it was only five minutes since the last time she looked at it, and let out a huge disgruntled groan, placing her head in her hands. All the ways that a simple medical call could go wrong were flying through her mind, and having the newbie tagging along didn't help ease her concerns at all. All of a sudden, the wonderful aroma of coffee beans and hazelnut filled her nose. Looking down, Marjan was surprised at the mug of coffee that had been placed there.
"Looked like you might need that," T.K. commented, sitting down next to her with a matching cup of coffee. He nodded towards the garage, at the empty spot where the ambulance normally parked. 'Worried about Nancy?" He added, taking a quick glance to see Marjan's reaction to his question.
"Yes - " Marjan started to respond, not even processing the question fully until her first sip of coffee hit her tongue. Then realizing that T.K. had asked her specifically about Nancy, not about the medical team as a whole, she quickly backpedaled. "I mean, I'm worried about the team. The new candidate seems pretty clumsy," she quickly added, not wanting T.K. to get the wrong idea.
T.K. just nodded, his eyes connecting with hers over his cup of coffee. And damn, if that look didn't tell Marjan exactly what T.K. thought about her response. Why was she surrounded by perceptive firefighters? Her last house wouldn't have even noticed her break up with Salim, let alone whatever attraction she was feeling for Nancy. But this was a family at the 126.
Marjan let that thought roll around for a few minutes, and it was on the tip of her tongue to ask T.K. something rather personal, but then the ambulance was rolling up to the station, with Nancy hopping out of the passenger door to help guide the newbie into their parking space. It looked like everyone was in one piece, but then Nancy had motioned for the newbie to stop backing in, but instead he went a bit further, backing right over Nancy's foot. Nancy barely let out a groan, but T.K. and Marjan reacted in a split second, running over to the scene of the accident.
Marjan headed straight towards Nancy, while T.K. raced to the front of the ambulance, making sure that it was put into park and shut off immediately. Marjan reached under Nancy's shoulders, helping her slowly down to the ground with Tommy's assistance. She then stayed there, letting Nancy rest against her, while she watched as Tommy carefully assessed the injury.
Nancy winced in pain, in turn causing Marjan to visibly flinch when Tommy brushed against a particularly sore area. Even though she knew that T.K. was now watching her like a hawk, she didn't hesitate a single second when one of Nancy's hands reached up to grab hers, returning the grip and comfort that Nancy was seeking without question. And when Tommy indicated that Nancy should probably go get an x-ray, Marjan offered to go with her, never letting go of Nancy's hand as she was loaded in and the doors closed behind them. Glancing down at Nancy, Marjan wasn't surprised to see her looking down at their clasped hands.
"We should probably talk about this sometime, right?" Nancy said, tightening her grasp as if she was worried that Marjan would let go. But the thought of letting go filled Marjan with dread, and so she reached across and grabbed Nancy's other hand, increasing their point of contact as the ambulance pulled forward, out of the station doors.
Nancy was right, they definitely needed to talk about whatever was going on between the two of them sometime, sometime soon. But today was not that day, and so Marjan simply nodded, and continued to hold Nancy's hands, both of them, as they drove to the nearest hospital.
XXXXX
Unfortunately, the damage to Nancy's foot was more severe than Tommy originally had predicted and she ended up having surgery to put in a plate to help stabilize her foot. This in turn resulted in Nancy being stuck non-weight bearing for a few weeks and having to hobble around the station on crutches, which was not particularly accessible.
Tommy had tried to insist that Nancy stay home and rest, but after the disastrous batch of applicants so far, Nancy had insisted on coming into the station to sit in on the remaining interviews. So Marjan had been stopping by every day to pick Nancy up and help her in, as it was her driving foot that had been impacted.
Marjan was appreciating the opportunity to spend more time with Nancy, to get to know her better outside of their work personas. Some days she would stop by earlier or stay later, having picked up some food for the two of them along the way. Marjan was slowly finding out how much Nancy enjoyed anything that was stuffed in dough, whether it was samosas, empanadas, or even ravioli. Marjan considered it a personal challenge to find the most interesting filling combinations when she was out, not afraid to admit to herself that she enjoyed watching Nancy's reactions, both when her eyes lit up when Marjan presented her with a surprise and when her eyes would close, and she'd let out a small moan of pleasure when she bit into a new pastry.
It felt like she and Nancy could talk for hours, about their work, their families, their friends; the two of them just connected in a way that Marjan hadn't connected with another person since Salim. But neither of them talked about their newly found relationship, not wanting to focus on why they enjoyed each other's company, or why when the two of them found themselves alone together, that they couldn't keep their hands off each other. And it was nothing sexual, not at all. But when the two of them were close to each other, they would allow their shoulders to brush against each other, their fingers would intertwine, and they would simply enjoy the presence of each other.
It had been a couple weeks since Nancy had been able to return to work, back to full duty and they had continued their routine of having a quick lunch or dinner at least two times a week when their shifts lined up. After a couple weeks of this new routine, Marjan finally brought herself to look at her mark. She hadn't looked at it since the majority of her stars disappeared, since that awful night when she and Salim had broken their relationship off. Marjan hoped to see that it had filled a bit, that while she didn't understand what this relationship with Nancy was, her time spent with Nancy filled her with warmth and comfort that she hadn't known before. But she was also worried that it wouldn't recognize Nancy's importance, and that filled her with paralyzing fear.
Pulling up her sleeve, she took a deep breath, and then held her breath as she glanced down at the mark. She simply stared at her mark in shock, unable to breathe. Tracing over the mark gently, she could feel tears fill her eyes and overflow, falling gently down her cheek. It was breathtaking. Instead of the blue stars that had criss-crossed over the moon previously, there were stars in every colour of the rainbow, every size, almost completely filling the crescent moon, leaving only a small space of skin at the top. Overjoyed with happiness, Marjan reached out for her phone, knowing that she had to meet with Nancy as soon as possible. They couldn't wait any longer to have that discussion that they had been refusing to have.
Frowning when she reached Nancy's voice mail, Marjan checked the clock. Her last message from Nancy had come in around 9 PM, saying that they had been sent on a medical call relating to someone in labour right at the end of their shift. But it was three hours ago, and she hadn't received any updates. Nancy normally would send her a quick message when she was headed home and vice versa. Now that she was no longer distracted by her mark, she felt herself start to worry.
Scrolling down her list of contacts, Marjan quickly shot a message to T.K. and Tommy. She waited a few minutes, and after no response, decided to call Carlos. She didn't want to intrude on whatever might be going on with him and T.K. that night, but figured an awkward conversation was worth it to alleviate her worry. Maybe Nancy went with their patient to the hospital to help out, maybe she was so tired from delivering a baby that she went right home and fell asleep. Marjan tried to keep telling herself positive reasons while she listened to the ring of her phone, but as soon as Carlos answered with a 'Reyes', she didn't hold back.
"Did T.K. come home from his shift?" Marjan demanded, walking back and forth in her living room impatiently. "Nancy hasn't answered any of my calls and their shift was supposed to be over hours ago." She added, not worried about Carlos knowing about her and Nancy's whatever. He was dating T.K. after all, he probably knew more than she did.
"They haven't returned to the station and their rig is off the map," Captain Strand answered, as Carlos was driving frantically through the city towards their last known location. "Don't worry Marjan, we are looking into their last known location. Stay home, we will contact you when we know more," he added firmly, leaning over to hang up the call.
Marjan resisted the initial urge to listen to her Captain's orders. But it wasn't the first time she refused to follow the chain of command and it was not likely to be her last, especially when it involved Nancy. Grabbing her keys from the hook by the front door, she punched in the address for the parking lot that Nancy had mentioned and stepped on the gas. She had a soulmate to rescue.