A/N: Incorporates prompt #19 “And that’s how you ruin a life. Congratulations.”
Summary: Tonight is Damien and Maya’s first official date since coming home. But not everything goes according to plan . . .
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Disclaimer: Characters/canon belong to Pixelberry
This wasn’t fair. This wasn’t supposed to happen. After everything she’d been through to get to this point, this was not how she’d planned to start her new life. Not like this.
Maya cried out as another wave of pain surged through her abdomen and shot out through her intimate areas. She squirmed uncomfortably, breathing deeply as if that would quell the intense agony coursing through her.
After months of her life being an endless limbo of chaos while on the run, she and her friends had successfully taken down Eros. It hadn’t been easy to return to their normal lives, what with all the attention their story had gotten from the media. But it was finally over.
Once they’d gotten back to New York and settled in, Damien had taken the leap and asked her out on their first official not-on-the-run date.
Maya had been excited all week. She’d finished all her errands and had even booked an early appointment at the salon for a day-long session of pampering with Nadia. The outfit she’d picked out was hanging separately from her other clothes in the closet, ready to be used.
Everything was perfect.
Except she’d gotten her goddamn period.
Less than two hours before Damien was supposed to come and pick her up, Maya had had a sinking feeling when the all too familiar cramping had started up. She’d decided to take her painkillers, only to find that they’d expired months ago.
The one thing she’d forgotten to do in her excitement for today: replace the damn painkillers.
By the time she’d changed and gotten ready for a mad rush to the store, the pain had fully settled in and now here she lay, curled up on the bathroom floor, tear-stained cheeks pressed into the rug. As the latest cramp stopped, Maya reached out weakly to pick up her phone; trying not to stretch too much lest she aggravate her cramp again.
Shit. Too late.
———————-
There was a light skip in his step as Damien walked to his car, holding a small bouquet. These hadn’t been easy to find, but luckily, this store had it. Maya wasn’t normally into flowers as gifts, but he knew she’d made an exception for Jasmine flowers because of their scent.
Just as he was about to turn the key in the ignition, his cellphone rang with Maya as the incoming caller.
“Hello?”
“Damien? I don’t . . . think I can make it tonight.”
“Oh . . .” He drew back slightly, his hand automatically going to the bouquet sitting on the passenger’s seat. “Do you want to reschedule? Or . . .” He felt a nagging doubt creep into him as he tried to decipher her tone. Had she changed her mind?
“Yeah . . .” She replied weakly. “Wait, no, I mean-” Maya cut off for a second. The strain in her voice was apparent now. “Reschedule- I want-”
“Maya?” Damien frowned, sitting up straighter now. “Is everything okay?”
There was a sniffle on the other end. “I-” She suddenly cried out. “I have- oh god!”
“Maya?!” Damien’s eyes widened and he gripped the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles whitened. “What happened?!”
“Damien, I need painkillers!” She was sobbing now, anything else she was saying came out incoherently.
“Maya,” Damien’s heart was racing as he tried his best to calm her down. “Maya, slow down.” Millions of thoughts were going through his mind as to what had happened. “Are you alone in the apartment? Did someone-”
“No . . .”
“Do you need me to call 911?”
“No, don’t- this is normal. Cramps . . .” She stopped crying at some point, but her voice was still wavering. “Midol. Get me Midol.”
Midol. Why does that sound so familiar? Luckily, Damien was still parked right next to the grocery store. As he bought the medicine she’d asked for, he looked it over and saw-
Menstrual relief. That’s when it dawned on him what was going on with her.
Damien’s mind was on autopilot as he quickly paid for the medicine and a bottle of water, then drove the rest of the way to her apartment. He tried calling Maya again, growing more worried by the second. Even though he knew now that this wasn’t a life threatening situation, the way she’d sounded on the phone had still scared the hell out of him.
Once he arrived, he bounded up the stairs, found the spare key to her place and burst inside. Damien found her lying on the bathroom floor, half-facedown, half on her side; curled into a fetal position. “Maya?” He knelt down, gently placing his hands on her shoulders.
“Don’t move me. I’m fine now.” She murmured, breathing deeply.
“Can you tell me where it hurts?”
She moved her hand down to her stomach. “Down here. And . . . lower than that.” Then Maya reached for him as she was barely able to speak.
Damien was alarmed now. “Okay that’s it, I’m calling-”
“Period cramps . . .” She nudged him. “The painkillers. Hurry.”
“Oh! Right.” He immediately fished the tiny bottle from his bag and helping her into a sitting position. Once Maya took the pills, she sighed and leaned her head against his chest, still clutching her stomach. “You can put me back down,” she said softly. “They’ll take effect soon hopefully.”
Damien complied, then sat back on his heels and blew out his cheeks, feeling the weight on his chest lighten up a bit. “So it’s period cramps. You couldn’t have told me that, before? I only realized when I saw the medication. I was worried about you.”
She turned just her head so she could look at him. “It’s not exactly easy to bring up, Damien!”
“Maya, I grew up with four sisters. This isn’t exactly new to me.”
She went silent for a few moments. “Right. I didn’t think about that.” Then she suddenly grabbed at the area between her legs and curled into herself. “Oh god, it’s happening again!” She pressed her face into the rug, muffling her agonized groans as she clutched her stomach and breathed heavily.
Damien pulled her into his arms, whispering reassuringly in her ear as Maya cried for several more minutes. Once she quieted down, she slumped against him and buried her face in his shirt.
“Is it always this bad?” He eyed her, concerned by the state she was in.
“Mmhmm . . . if I don’t take my painkillers on time.”
“I mean, I’ve seen my sisters go through this, but you really sounded like you were in . . . well . . . a lot of pain back on the phone.”
Maya nodded. “It’s been this way since I started. Did all the visits, got checked for appendicitis whenever someone called 911, polycystic ovarian syndrome etc.”
“And?”
“Nothing,” she murmured. “Some women just have awful periods.”
“So nothing works?”
“Well one of the things that worked was me exercising. A lot. Kept up a daily routine and it made them less severe. And as a bonus, I didn’t have to pop pills over this.”
Damien nodded, listening intently. “So . . . what happened this time?”
“Eros happened, that’s what.” Maya’s features twisted into a glare. “We went on the run, we were constantly hiding out, so my whole routine got screwed up and now I’m back to square one. Plus in the time I was gone, my stupid painkillers expired and I forgot to replace them.”
“Right, that’ll do it.” He kept talking with her for a few more minutes, noticing when she finally began to relax as the painkillers took effect. “Okay, let’s get you to bed.” When she started to protest, he shook his head. “I’m not letting you sleep on the bathroom floor, doll.”
“But I’m hungryyy,” she whined, eliciting a chuckle from him. “And-”
“And you wanna watch something good on TV that makes you forget how much you hate being a girl just for today.”
“. . . Yeah.”
“All right, fine. Couch it is, then.” Damien gently lifted her in his arms bridal-style and then carried her towards the living room. “Oh and another thing? No scary movies. You need to relax. Plus I’m still sore from the last time we watched ‘The Grudge’ when you freaked-”
“Hey, I did not freak out-”
“When you freaked out and jumped into my lap. In the theater. And stayed there the whole time.”
“Fiiiine. So bossy.” Then she smirked devilishly. “Admit it, Damien. You secretly enjoyed that.”
“I did not.” Even as he said that, a faint blush tinged his cheeks.
Once Damien lowered Maya onto the couch, he handed her the TV remote so she could turn on Netflix. Then he went back to the bathroom and at her direction, rummaged through the drawers until he found a heating pad. Back in the living room, she’d already situated herself against her pillows, covered herself with a small fleece blanket and turned on one of her favorite comedy shows.
After plugging the pad in and giving it to her to put on, Damien noticed a wistful smile on her face that sobered when he looked at her questioningly.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, I-” Her gaze drifted down to his chest, eyeing the elegant black suit he was wearing, and sighed. “I’m sorry I ruined our date.”
“Ruined? How?”
“This.” She gestured up and down at him. “You . . . you got all dressed up tonight and . . . you look so handsome.” she sniffled. “And we were supposed to go out for dinner.”
“Maya . . .” Damien’s face had lit up from her compliment, but upon hearing her sniffle, he frowned.
“And instead you’re here babysitting me.”
“Hate to break it to you sweetheart,” Damien sat next to her, running a hand through his hair. “I’m always babysitting you,” he laughed, dodging the pillow she swung at him.
“I was being sincere! You’re the worst!” Maya giggled, poking and shoving at him until another cramp hit. “Oooh . . . oww, owww.” She stopped and cringed, pressing the heating pad to her stomach.
Damien’s eyes widened and he quickly scooted into the spot she’d made for him on the couch and wrapped his arms around her, shushing her gently. “Shh . . . try and relax, okay? Don’t tense up too much or it’ll get worse.” He started rubbing her lower back in soothing circles. “Were those painkillers not . . .?”
“They’re working fine. Like you said, I just shouldn’t strain myself for sometime.” Her pained expression melted when he kissed her temple, then her cheek. “So where were we gonna go tonight?”
Damien watched her face, hesitating for a moment, then relented. “Olive Garden.”
Maya groaned. “And that’s how you ruin a life. Congratulations.”
“What? But I thought you liked-”
“Not that Damien,” she said. “I was talking about my uterus.” She glared at the region that had utterly ruined her plans for today. “Of all the days, why today?!”
“Hey, it’s okay,” He reassured her. “This is not your fault.”
“I had a spa day, got a dress picked out and everything and then this – OW! – happens!” Maya wiped her tears, wincing again as she clutched Damien’s shirt instinctively, curling herself against him. “I just wanted tonight to be perfect.”
“I think it is perfect.” When she glared at him, he hastily added, “Okay not exactly, considering you’re in pain.” He started tucking her blankets more snugly around her as he spoke. “But the whole point of a date is spending time together and . . . well . . . that’s exactly what we’re doing now.”
“And what are we gonna do about food? I’ve got nothing here.”
“Don’t worry about it.” He waved her off, already dialing a number on his cell phone. “I already cancelled the reservation. I’m gonna have them deliver the food instead. You still like their salad and eggplant parmesan right?”
“Yep.”
“On it.”
“Ooh and get their Black Tie Mousse cake for dessert!”
“Got it. Anything else, milady?”
“. . . and a Chocolate Brownie Lasagna.” He gaped at her and she batted her eyelashes, smiling innocently. “Any comment . . . Sir?”
His eyes flashed. Then he jumped slightly in his seat, visibly trying to shake himself out of whatever thought crossed his mind. “Um-” he quickly cleared his throat. “Nope, not at all.”
She merely rolled her eyes, snickering. Too easy.
Once Damien placed their orders, he set the phone down and went back to cuddling with her as they watched TV. Maya sighed contently as his hands skimmed over her arms, shoulders and back; reveling in the warmth, both from him and from the heating pad between them. “How are you feeling now?”
“Mmm . . . a little better.” She nuzzled into his neck. “I love it when you spoil me.”
“Good.” Damien grinned, sliding his hand up to pet her hair as he cradled her with his other arm.
“You know at the end of the date, I wanted to do way more than just lying in the couch and watching Netflix . . . so much more than this . . .” Maya reached out and tilted his chin towards her, kissing him sweetly. “I’ll make it up to you, D. I promise.”
“Maya . . .” Damien leaned in and deepened the kiss, weaving his fingers into her hair. “There’s nothing to make up for,” He whispered between kisses. When they separated, his eyes were glistening with affection. “It doesn’t matter what we’re doing. Whether it’s dining together . . .” he took her hand and pressed a kiss to her palm, “fooling around in bed . . .” her shoulder, “or just Netflix and chill.” and then her neck. “All I need is you.”
Maya’s lips quivered as she gazed at her boyfriend tenderly. “Damien . . .” Maya felt his thumb brush across her cheek as he leaned in again and she closed her eyes in surrender . . .
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
The loud triple chime from Damien’s cellphone snapped them both out of their trance and he quickly stood up. “Looks like our dinner’s here! I’ll be back.” He shot her a quick wink and rushed out. Maya stared in that direction fondly.
She couldn’t believe that just a few months ago, it had felt like after four years of friendship, she’d never get the chance to tell Damien how she felt – or that she might even lose him before they could be together for real. Even when they’d first confessed their feelings for each other, the circumstances had been far from perfect; downright dangerous in fact.
Yet things fell into place in the end. Because somehow, they always found ways to come through for each other. Just like Damien had come through for her tonight when she needed him.
There was no life changing event, no horrifying revelation about Eros. Just a normal date night that hadn’t gone according to plan . . .
“By the way,” she looked up at the sound of his voice again. “I had these in the car, I must’ve left them there when I ran up here looking for you.”
. . . and as Damien walked back in balancing a bag of takeout in one arm and holding a bouquet of her favorite Jasmine flowers in the other, Maya was certain she wouldn’t change a thing.