Chapters will be slowing down now. I think realistically I might get out 1-2 a week, but this started more as a daydream during the long Easter holiday weekend, now back to full time work, so that's got to remain the focus!
Again, thank you so much to Hetwaszoietsals for the support, it means a lot!
Also this is not meant to be a crossover series, but naturally will involve some of the cast and story lines of Grey's Anatomy, they're in the same universe, so pretty hard to avoid right now! But S19 will be the focus of this fic.
Without further ado, chapter 3:
SATURDAY MORNING.
Carina watched the two officers walk slowly around Maya's apartment. She leant against the wall by the door, hoping at any moment her wife would burst through with a thousand apologies.
'Maybe it's just her bad ankle and it slowed her down.' Carina hoped. Playing absent mindedly with her necklace she didn't hear the officer the first time.
"Ma'am, just making sure we have all the details here," He had a short hair cut, silver flecks beginning to be more obvious than not.
Snapping out of it Carina made eye contact.
Glancing at his notes he continued, "So you were meeting your wife-"
There was a tone when he said it, normally that would've resulted in a sharp look from Carina, but she was too preoccupied.
"- and she didn't show up. You waited until 10:30am to call this in but she had been missing for over 15 hours?" He seemed annoyed.
"I- ah, we haven't been on the best of terms recently, I thought maybe she needed a night alone," Immediately feeling a wave of guilt she added, "I came here as soon as I realised something was wrong."
"Would you say that is out of character for Mrs Bishop to need a night alone?" He raised his eyes back to her. They looked bloodshot. Carina guessed he had almost finished his shift and wanted to be done.
"I don't know, we have been through a lot recently."
Scribbling. The other officer, who must've been lower ranking, was holding a small case, taken from one of the shelves in the living room. He smirked and opened it, the front label rising to show the Olympic rings to Carina.
"Can you put that down? It is not a toy," Carina was now mad, her wife was missing and the police, who were meant to help were asking silly questions and playing with their belongings.
He turned the case to face the senior office, who's eyebrows rose, "I thought I recognised this name somewhere," He muttered. Carina stepped forward, snatching the case from them both.
"What are you doing here still? My wife is missing, go find her!" She was beyond frustrated.
The door closed and she was alone. Sitting, crumpled really, against the door, her wife's gold medal in hand, the tears started to fall.
19.
FRIDAY.
Something soft was on her face. Her shoulder was stinging. A mosquito buzzed in her ear.
Maya jerked awake, the afternoon light still brightly shining down on her through the leaves. She was on a slight slope, dusty soil and leaves clung to her clammy skin. Her fingers grazed past something furry. She was leaning against a bank, potentially of a shallow, dried creek. A deer carcass lay next to her. It was her pillow. Her hands reached for her face when she realised they were cable tied together.
Her ears were ringing still. It wasn't a mosquito.
The sound of metal scraping metal drew her attention away. About 20 meters to her right was a makeshift campsite. Dark green canvas tarps were strung up between three trees, two small camo-patterned tents at either end. A small campfire was positioned in front. Two men were there, eating something. Glancing back at her deer pillow revealed they must've cooked its front leg.
As she woke up another layer into consciousness Maya slowly moved back to look like she was still out to the world, whilst scanning around, trying to assess what was happening.
Her hands were bound. Her shoulder had a shallow scratch on it that was red, it must have been dragged next to a strong branch. Her shoelaces were tied together. Her head hurt, there was a lump at the back, with some crusted blood. Her mouth was dry. She didn't have her vest on anymore. She was instead in the running clothes she had set out in, a plain grey singlet and some shorts. She shifted uncomfortably, trying to get a stick out from underneath her hip.
"Hey, she's up," A gruff voice evenly stated. Maya froze, trying to remember the run she knew she had been on, but couldn't exactly recall why she had ended up tied up next to a deer.
More clanging of metal, "Showtime," this voice was now closer. They were heading towards her. One used his boot to roll Maya onto her back, where she started up at them, trying to remain calm.
"Whatever you want, I am a lieutenant for Seattle Fire Department, and people will be looking for me right now," She spoke firmly, with more confidence than she possessed.
The two men smirked at each other, "Firelady is a first," The stouter one grinned.
"Yeah we don't care. We know this bush better than you, or your silly search team. No one's finding you," The taller one snapped, "We only want you tonight anyway. They can find you when we're done." The stouter hunter stifled a giggle.
Maya remembered, 'tonight's entertainment,' and a sick feeling washed over her.
19.
SATURDAY NOON.
Carina sat in her parked car, at the reserve near where Vic and Travis lived. She had hoped Maya would be there. This was her fifth time being disappointed and she had run out of potential locations she knew Maya had run at before. She was cursing herself for not talking to her wife about downloading a tracking app, so they could see where each other was. The app had gained popularity while they were separated, and it felt obsessive to ask so early into their new stage in their relationship.
'Andrea, Mama, Andrea, Mama,' the names rolled around her head as she stared at the leaves on a tree that began to move with more intensity. The wind was picking up. It was meant to be stormy tonight. She couldn't lose someone else.
Suddenly realising her phone was ringing she was snapped from her trance, "Ciao Amelia," she said quickly.
"No news?" The answer was obvious from the tension in Carina's greeting.
Rubbing her eyes she replied, "No, I have been everywhere I can think of, the police haven't called me since 2 hours ago, and I don't know what to do."
Amelia paused before answering, "Have you told her team?"
"No, I, ah, Maya has worked so hard to get their respect back, I don't want to ruin it if this is nothing."
"Is this nothing though?"
Blinking away tears Carina spoke, her mouth dry, "I do not know, I will maybe wait a little longer, just in case she has hurt her ankle again and is almost home."
"Well I'm on break in 20, come round to Grey Sloan, I will sit with you."
"I, ah, I am not hungry," Carina cracked open the door to her car, needing fresh air.
There was a quiet grunt, "Yes well when did you last eat? Come meet me in my office," Amelia knew that without Maya, or Maya's team, had little other support outside of the hospital.
Carina sighed, thinking of the encroaching storm, "Si, I'll be there soon." She hung up and watched a pair of runners stop at a bench.
'Andrea, Mama, Andrea, Mama.'
19.
SATURDAY EVENING.
Teddy Altman loved pressure. She thrived in intense situations. Other people crumbled, unable to see the clear pathway through the fog. Her favourite was arriving in a trauma bay and establishing herself as the leader, and bringing the team, and the patient, through the ordeal. When the room seems to go quiet and eyes turn to her.
But not this evening. Seeing Bishop, her previous patient, and the wife of a good friend of hers', on the gurney, made her mouth dry and her hands felt clammy. Truthfully it was hard seeing Carina and Maya together and happy sometimes, it reminded her of her own past love, and losing that as the towers collapsed. Pushing emotions aside and compartmentalising Maya into a stranger was survival.
"Her heart," Sailed with her into the room.
"Talk to me," Teddy stood at the foot of the bed, watching nurses handing sensors, needles, IVs, to frantic doctors.
Hunt reappeared, "2 GSW's, one through, one lodged, scans showing it near the liver. Head trauma, neuro has been paged, hypothermic and-" he was cut off by the heart monitor, showing an irregular heart beat, edging close to no rhythm at all.
"She needs immediate surgery," Altman stated as one of the residents climbed onto the bed, ready to perform compressions as they travelled to an operating theatre.
As they rolled out Hunt gave Warren a nod. 'She's with us.'
19.
SATURDAY AFTERNOON.
"Carina hi," Andy answered her phone, confused why Bishop's wife would be calling her. When there was no immediate response she added, "Everything ok?"
Carina was still in Amelia's office, with the neurosurgeon sitting across from her. She mouthed, 'Maya is missing.'
"Ah, I cannot find Maya, we were meant to have a date last night and she didn't show up and I couldn't find her this morning, and I have checked lots of running areas and the police know and I don't know what to do," She gasped out, finding surprise relief in releasing the information.
There was a brief stunned silence, "Wait so she's missing missing?" Andy was in the lockers at the station, and leant against her bunk, looking at the one labelled 'Bishop'.
"I don't know what to do," Carina repeated.
"She seemed good, should we be concerned?" Andy didn't have to finish her sentence, her friend's mental health had seemed a lot stronger, but she knew no one really ever knew.
"I do not know," Carina all but whispered, a wave of exhaustion hitting her.
Andy glanced behind her, watching Travis walk past the doorway, "Why does this feel like a secret?"
"She has worked so hard to get her job back, respect back, I do not want to ruin that over something that might be nothing."
Herrera nodded, not entirely agreeing, but Carina was probably right, Maya would want no one to know if this really was nothing. "What do you need?"
Carina blinked quickly, unable to orientate her thoughts, her breathing hitched and she dropped the phone, standing up and walking across the room. Amelia watched and scooped the phone off the couch, "Herrera it's Shepherd, let's just stay in touch, the police know, I think that's all we can do for now." She nodded at Andy's agreement, hanging up she turned. Carina had slid down the toilet door and was sitting on the tiles.
'Too soft, too soft,' she was mumbling.
19.
There we go folks, another chapter down! Apologies again for the time between updates, with work and life, this is probably a bit more realistic of how it'll look for the future.
It's potentially worth noting I'm in New Zealand, and don't know the American system of things, so if something sounds slightly off, that's probably why!
Again, leave a review!