Chapter Text
The day had been stressful.
It didn't matter how organized Maya was, everything went out the window when there were children involved. That is why experts suggest you never work with dogs or children, and sure, that was to do with the movie business, but Maya understood the sentiment.
She had a checklist.
She had a schedule.
Kids didn't give a shit about checklists or schedules.
She suspected she only continued to make them as a way to channel her anxiety into something somewhat productive. Or, at least a distraction… She would need to expand her time blocks and be more realistic with her plans.
When they were running over an hour behind, Maya was suddenly awash with relief that she hadn't booked flights. They never would have made it to the airport on time.
As her last act, she loaded the cooler into the SUV – the best way to keep kids happy on the road was with the best snacks on the market. It was also the best way to keep Carina happy. She stowed it at Stevie's feet, knowing Carina could easily reach it while Maya took the wheel. It was only about an eight hour drive, but factoring in toddlers and... well, more frequent stops were inevitable.
Even though they'd planned an overnight drive.
Maya wasn't new here.
Though, it was the first time they'd made the trip as a family of five. Carina had been heavily pregnant with Stevie the last time they made a visit – all because the kids begged for a white Christmas. The chance of a white Christmas in Seattle? 10% at best, and with the way the kids had been talking about it since they'd seen a picture Maya and Carina on a ski trip – a trip that wasn't ever to be repeated if Carina had her way – well, they made it happen. The Christmas trip had been worth it. The drive was tough with Stevie constantly pressing on Carina's bladder, but it had been memories of that trip that had kept Maya going after Carina disappeared.
Maya took one last deep breath, pushing aside memories of the trip she'd had to cancel after Carina disappeared, shaking her head before retreating into the house to help her wife herd the children. Finally, everyone was in their assigned seat, strapped in, and ready to hit the road.
"It's weird how we keep discovering things I can't remember," Carina commented once they'd been on the road for 45-minutes, surrounded by the sound of Bluey to entertain the children. There was no point putting headphones on all three children to watch the same thing, Maya and Carina just had to suffer through it, try to focus on the quiet of the road. Obviously Carina had been focused on her lingering memory deficits.
Maya raised an eyebrow, "I guess you don't really know what you know or don't know until it comes up."
Carina hummed, "Still, I feel like owning a cabin in Idaho should have been like… key information to remember. You never mentioned it when you told me about your father."
Maya shrugged, "Well, it was delicate… I wanted you to like me for me."
"As opposed to?"
"My riches, Carina, obviously."
Carina laughed, shaking her head, her hand reaching across the space between them to settle on Maya's thigh. "Gabriella told me my wife had a good job and I didn't need to worry about money," she shrugged.
Maya grinned as she kept her eyes on the road ahead.
Maya suddenly wasn't so bothered by how late a start they'd gotten – the point of this road trip to Idaho wasn't just reaching the destination. The point was to spend time together as a family, to sew themselves back together a little more firmly.
Like a triple strength stitch.
Her grin could only widen when Carina reached back into the cooler to grab them both drinks. She wordlessly cracked open a can of coconut sparkling water for Maya, taking a sip of it before she handed it to her. "Yuck," she muttered, opening a can of Fresca.
Maya scoffed, taking a long pull from the can before slipping it into her cupholder. "If it's so disgusting why do you always take the first sip?"
"First of all, it is my right as your wife," Carina said, holding up her index finger before taking a sip from her own can. "Secondly," she added, holding up a second finger, "you love it so much, I have to check to see whether it's grown on me yet. I love the smell," she shrugged.
Maya shook her head, smiling a little when Carina's hand took its rightful place on her thigh. She glanced in the rearview mirror and frowned. "I thought they'd all be asleep by now," she said with a sigh. "That was the entire purpose of doing the drive overnight."
Carina smiled as she turned around to check on the kids. Liam was asleep anyway, but Alba and Stevie were holding out for some reason. They both looked exhausted, eyes barely open, like half-shut knives, and yet… they kept jumping awake to watch more Bluey.
"Should I turn the iPad off?" Carina asked, but Maya shook her head. "It's keeping them quiet, they've gotta nod off eventually, right?"
"Let's hope. I do think maybe we've done ourselves a disservice, though," Carina glanced at Maya sidelong. "We're going to be exhausted all day tomorrow and they are going to run circles around us."
Maya laughed, "Nah, we're going to keep it calm and casual tomorrow, we'll try to hang around in the cabin for the first day. I'll need to make a trip for wood and we should have more than enough supplies packed to put off the grocery store until day two."
"Do you mind if I nap?" Carina asked, knowing the first rule of shotgun on a roadtrip was to stay awake and entertain the driver.
"Go for it," Maya agreed easily, Carina was so constantly busy with her fellowship, she needed an opportunity to relax and this was supposed to be just that.
Maya glanced in her rearview mirror, realizing that Alba was still awake, staring into the distance as though she was in a daydream. She assumed it was exhaustion, "What are you thinking about, dimples?" she asked when she saw the little girl sigh heavily; she smiled when Alba snapped to attention and met her eyes in the mirror.
"'Bout farfalle."
Maya indulged an extended blink before pursing her lips.
Gabriella had a lot to answer for.
Her next check in the mirror confirmed that her daughter had, in fact, followed her farfalle dream right into sleep.
At least she didn't have to come up with a response.
Carina had been sleeping for an hour when Alba woke and her cries started. Maya raised an eyebrow, looking in the rearview mirror. There didn't seem to be much of an explanation for the meltdown. "What's wrong, dimples?" Maya asked.
Alba shook her head, lip quivering as she drew breath to let out another loud wail. She was very much her Mama's daughter.
"Fuck," Maya muttered under her breath as she watched Stevie wake, immediately joining the bawling chorus. Liam was still asleep. "Hey guys, it's okay, maybe we'll stop soon, huh? I think there's an offramp coming up, I bet they have a Wendy's. We can get some fries." Glancing at the time, she realized there was a good chance she wouldn't make it before closing. She should have kept her mouth shut and surprised them with the fries. Stupid.
Regardless, the crying didn't stop.
By the time she exited the freeway, she spotted a still open drive-thru, realizing the restaurant was still open as well.
Lucky.
She shook Carina awake as gently as she could, "My love, I'm going to go in and order food and use the restroom, do you want to come?"
Carina opened her eyes, squinting at the bright lights of the restaurant's storefront. "You go," she said with a shake of her head. Maya nodding, hopping out of the car, opting to take Alba with her.
By the time Maya made it back with some midnight snacks and a much happier Alba, Carina was fully awake and desperate to go in and use the bathroom.
"They might make you buy something, even if you tell them your hot wife just left," she warned. "They didn't let us use the bathrooms until I'd ordered and paid."
Carina frowned, reaching into the backseat to rouse Liam. In an ideal world, they wouldn't wake the children up for anything, but they had stopped and it was an opportunity for a comfort break, they needed to take it. It would limit the number of stops later. "Can you check Stevie's pull-up," Carina said as she headed for the front door.
He was still dry, that would likely change soon once he'd had some water to wash down the fries they were about to snack on. Though, she had offered to take him into the restaurant once Carina returned, he was adamant he didn't need to go.
Maya chomped on fries watching the two little ones in the backseat do the same. She'd left Carina's on the passenger seat and Liam's next to his booster chair. "Good fries, huh guys?"
"Yeah, Mommy, I love them," Alba grinned.
Maya smiled, "Yeah, it's really nice to sit in the dark quiet together to eat fries, hm?"
Stevie giggled. She wasn't sure if it was because she amused him or he was just happy with the fries.
"So, are you a bit happier now? You can sleep the rest of the way, you think?" Maya asked, turning around to face them directly.
"Yeah, Mommy! I sleep!" Stevie agreed after taking a long drink of water. Maya smiled, squeezing his foot before turning her attention to Alba, "And you, dimples?
Alba nodded, still too busy with her fries to respond verbally.
By the time Carina and Liam reappeared, Maya had finished her fries and regretted not ordering a burger to go along with them. She tipped the lid of the cooler up, wrinkling her nose when she realized there were no Maya specific snacks under the hood.
"I have potato chips here for you," Carina winked. "And c-h-o-c-o-l-a-t-e too."
"Yum," she smiled. "How about a hot dog?"
"Do I look like a 7-Eleven?" Carina scoffed.
Maya's eyes widened, "You don't, but that does," she said, pointing across the street. "Give me five minutes. You want anything?"
"Whatever you're having obviously."
Carina didn't want whatever Maya was having.
Carina wanted jalapeño cream cheese taquitos.
Maya knew what her wife wanted most of the time, but definitely when it came to snacks.
Maya had said hot dog, but once she'd stepped into the convenience store what she really wanted was nachos... but she couldn't exactly eat nachos and drive and Carina couldn't feed her nachos easily either. The simplest option for her was to have what Carina was having. She was eager to get back on the road as quickly as possible.
Carina was perfectly content to snack on her own taquitos while offering Maya bites of hers. She furrowed her brow when she accidentally took a bite out of Maya's taquito instead of her own. "Why does this taste like Korean BBQ?"
"It is Korean BBQ. They're new, you know I can't resist novelty flavors, Carina, please," Maya frowned, her face serious.
Carina smiled, "These are not good," she made a face, quickly taking a bite of her own to wash the other flavor from her mouth.
"Good, more for me."
Just as Maya had gotten back into her groove on the interstate and Carina had nodded off, Alba and Stevie restarted their crying chorus. Maya sighed, doing her best to calm them down, realizing that neither of them particularly wanted to calm down.
Sleep provided them with escape from the reality of the roadtrip, but waking up was a reminder that they were still trapped in car seats.
It didn't take long for them to rouse the entire car and no matter what anyone did, including another unscheduled stop, they were not going to calm down. It was obvious that they did not enjoy being in a car for this length of time. And, as sure as Maya was that this would be their last road trip, she was very aware they still had to make a return leg.
By the time they reached the cabin, Maya was more than ready to take a nap. She desperately hoped Carina would let her grab at least an hour, maybe two, once she'd unloaded the SUV. There was no reason for her to say no. After all, she'd managed a few hours in the car while Maya had been hyper focused on the drive.
It was early morning, but the kids were adamant they wanted breakfast before they even thought about napping, and unfortunately, they were also standing strong in their demand for a macaroni breakfast.
Carina shrugged, stepping up to the stove to prepare a macaroni breakfast.
They were a little specific about the box their macaroni came from, hence Gabriella's finger painting with pasta experiment. Unfortunately, Carina didn't have the heart, or courage, to tell them the store had been out of stock of their favorite brand. That was the risk of grocery shopping in the early morning hours while the night shift was still working through the delivery to stock the shelves.
Once it was in front of them, though… well, then they would know because this wasn't elbow macaroni, it was shells. An improvement in Carina's opinion.
Maya raised an eyebrow when she stood behind Carina to kiss her shoulder. "Oh," was all she said when her eyes landed on the pot of pasta. "Do you want coffee or will we nap after breakfast, too?" she asked, hoping that her soft tone would convince Carina. "We can grab a couple hours with the kids and then wake up refreshed to get everything unpacked, maybe play a board game or watch a movie after that. Snack while we play right up until dinner," she promised.
Carina's eyes closed as her head fell back against Maya's shoulder. "I love you so much," she murmured as Maya made her lips at home behind her ear. "A nap is probably smart," Carina agreed much easier than Maya had anticipated.
Maya prepared some scrambled eggs and toast for the adults and watched as Carina plated the shells and cheese. She bit her lip in anticipation, she was just glad she wouldn't be on the receiving end of the eventual meltdown. She'd tried to mix it up with their macaroni brands in the past, it never went well. All three would revolt, but Stevie was incredibly particular with pasta and he was the one most likely to cause a fuss.
"Okay, little loves," Carina smiled as she placed a plate in front of each of her children. "Breakfast is served!" She sat down without making eye contact with any of them, opting to grab her knife and fork and cut into the toast and scrambled egg in front of her. It was such a simple dish, but Carina loved that Maya made her scrambled eggs using butter and cream. They were always so rich and delicious.
Carina moaned, but her brow furrowed when she looked across the table to see Maya turning her breakfast into a sandwich, complete with steak sauce. "That's another thing I don't remember," she said suddenly. "I know that you like steak sauce with your eggs, but I don't know why."
Maya smiled, "Well, you've been to the UK, so you know about HP Sauce, right?"
Carina nodded. "Yes, it's brown and they put it on breakfast."
"Right. Well, when I was at the Olympics, it was on the table when I went out to eat. It was my first morning off, I asked some locals where to find a greasy spoon because I really wanted a traditional English breakfast. I got a little lost, ended up having to ask about a dozen more locals on the way. Anyway, they put HP Sauce on the table when they delivered my fry-up. Obviously it was a thing, so I had to try it. It's delicious. It also wasn't easy to find here when I got back, so I used steak sauce as a substitute."
Carina smiled, "That's sweet. Did I already know that story?" she asked. It sounded like something Maya would have shared, and Carina wasn't sure she would have let the steak sauce thing pass without questioning.
Maya nodded, "Do you honestly think you would let me use steak sauce at breakfast without making comment?"
Carina laughed, but shook her head. "No."
They turned their attention the kids momentarily, it seemed like they were all fine with the substitution. Maya thought it was about time – shells and cheese were delicious, they should be glad for the upgrade.
Though Liam and Alba were happy scooping shells in their mouths like there was no tomorrow, Maya could see Stevie wasn't as happy. He had been eating, she'd watched him to take several bites, but the more he ate the deeper his frown grew until it formed a scowl. He downed his spoon and crossed his arms. Carina caught the move and she knew what was coming.
He burst into tears.
Maya closed her eyes. She didn't want to lose her patience with her children, but she was exhausted and exhaustion typically made her irritable. She definitely felt too irritable to handle this situation with the care it required.
"Steven Agosto, why are you crying?" Carina cooed.
Maya rolled her eyes. As if using his full name was going to help.
"No macaroni," he wailed.
Well, he wasn't wrong.
They were obviously shells.
"Okay," Carina stood with a sigh, picking him up and rubbing his back as he immediately wrapped his arms and legs around her.
"I wanna eat fries in the dark quiet with Mommy," he murmured.
Maya laughed, watching Carina's eyebrows lift. Maya's head fell back as her laugh grew, "I told Alba and Stevie that it was nice to eat fries with them in the dark quiet," she shrugged, "When we were in the car," she tried to explain, watching as Carina chuckled. "I was just trying to keep them calm after their crying battle."
"I'm going to put him down for a nap, he might as well get an early start."
Maya nodded, returning her attention to her breakfast, pleased that Liam and Alba were more than happy with their food. Liam was just about done with his and Alba wasn't far behind, which was a great sign. It wasn't long before Maya was clearing up and taking the kids by the hand to put them to bed with Stevie.
Liam folded his arms when they stepped into the bedroom.
"What's going on, big guy?" Maya asked, frowning as she sat down on the floor.
"This room is too small for all of us," he pouted, throwing himself to the ground in frustration. Maya ignored him, putting Alba to bed, smiling as she kissed her cheeks.
"Well, even if I stacked you all together, you wouldn't be taller than Uncle Jack, so it's gonna have to do, I'm afraid," she said, standing over him. "Do you want to get into bed on your own or shall I pick you up?"
He was on his back with his arms folded.
"Okay," she nodded, crouching down to pick him up and carry him to bed.
Maya sighed in relief as she climbed into the bed next to Carina. "Kids, who'd have 'em?" she huffed, puffing her cheeks out before kissing Carina's shoulder as she shimmied into position.
Carina hummed. "Definitely not me," she said. "Why were you at the Olympics?" Carina asked suddenly.
"What?" Maya asked, her brow furrowed.
"The steak sauce story," she said, shifting to face Maya as she let her fingertips trail up and down Maya's arms, smiling a little when her wife's hands immediately went to her waist.. "You said you were at the Olympics, how did you get tickets for London?"
Maya moved her hands from Carina's waist and propped herself up on one elbow. "Are you serious?" she asked, staring at Carina in surprise.
Carina raised her eyebrows in question.
"I'm… I was a runner," she said as if that would explain it. "I ran… in the Olympics. I won a gold medal," she said, voice straining a little as frustration set in.
Carina giggled a little, "Yeah, I know, I was just messing with you," she said with a grin.
"Carina!" Maya huffed, flopping against her pillow. "That's mean."
Carina giggled, grabbing Maya's arms to wrap them back around herself. "I love you."
Maya hummed into a sigh, "I love you," she said with a smile, pressing her lips to Carina's shoulder. "I love naps," she murmured, delighted at how good it felt to be tangled up in bed with her wife for a catnap.
Once the family power nap was over, everyone was a little less grumpy. Though, Maya would need to make a grocery store trip sooner than expected, there was no way they'd get away with serving the kids shells again. That was now going to be a little treat for Maya – the upscale mac n cheese she deserved.
Maya suggested quiet time for the kids with Carina while she made the run for firewood and groceries. The kids had been restless, so she promised them a trip to the beach when she returned.
Carina's eyes lit up in surprise, "Idaho has beaches?"
Maya nodded, delighted at the response, "Yep, I mean, it's a lake… in a state park, but hey, it's more than you expected!"
"Okay, but you need to lather on a lot of sunscreen, Bambina."
Maya raised an eyebrow in question. Obviously Carina was right, she and the kids needed to reapply more often than most, but she didn't exactly expect her wife to call her out on it.
"Sei una mozzarella," Carina smirked.
Maya's jaw dropped. "I understood that, Gabri always-" Maya huffed, hands on her hips as she stared her wife down.
Carina shrugged, amused that her wife finally understood what they'd been telling her all these years.
"Fine, whatever," she tossed over her shoulder before immediately disappearing to run her errands.
The kids had been to the beach before, though it had been a long time. They hadn't been since Carina returned and they certainly didn't go while she was away either. All of the children seemed partial to the water and Liam and Alba had loved the atmosphere the last time they had paid a visit. Maya was curious to see how they'd deal with it now.
Belatedly, she realized that putting the children back in the car might not have been her best idea. All three of them cried the entire journey to the beach. "This place better be good," Carina muttered under her breath.
It was.
Well, it wasn't Italy.
Or really, anywhere with a good beach, but it was beautiful and she was surrounded by the people she loved the most in the world, so she could hardly complain. She even managed to breathe through Alba's meltdown. Apparently her daughter had betrayed her heritage, furious that they were at the beach because she had deemed it too dirty to sit on despite the large blanket Maya had spread out.
Alba's meltdown triggered Stevie's meltdown, which led to Liam drifting further from his parents than they'd realized. When his cries penetrated Carina's field of hearing she leaped to her feet, gasping as she spotted him on the ground. She was with him in twenty seconds flat, already dropping to her knees to check on him. "Ragazzone, what's wrong?"
He sat up, tears streaming down his face as he sniffled, "I tripped and hurt my knee."
He was probably slippery from all the sunscreen Carina had applied.
"It's okay, my love, I have you," she said quietly, picking him up and holding him close. "I will kiss it better," she murmured against his hair, pressing kisses to his head between assurances.
Maya was still dealing with a crying Stevie and Alba when Carina settled on the blanket, Liam still sniffling and crying in her arms.
"Are you sure you don't want to lose your memories again and dip out of all this?" Maya asked jokingly, hoping her wife could actually hear her over all the crying. She kinda felt like crying herself… though, as exhausted as she was and as frustrated as she felt, it was as close to normal as she'd felt in a long time.
Carina looked over their heads with a grin, "Are you kidding?" she asked, slowly shaking her head in disbelief, "If anything, I'd say let's go right back to the start. I want to do it all over again."
The End