#maya bennett

Thanks for your patience with this one!

“Do you have any idea what time it is?” 

Maya hadn’t heard a thing, but she jolted, shifting away, when Robby pulled the headphones off her head, the muted sound of her tv show floating into the space between them. 

“Dad?” she asked, feeling something close to confusion as she saw him standing there, not even bothered by the fact that he was clearly somewhat upset with her, giving her one of those looks that said she better start explaining herself. 

“What are you doing up?” he asked, hoping against all hope that this wasn’t how his daughter was spending the nights while he was stuck at the hospital to cover multiple shifts—sometimes for days at a time. “You have school tomorrow.” 

“Wait…what time is it?” she asked, feeling as though she had just said goodbye to her father a few hours ago. It had been raining when Robby left and Maya hadn’t wanted to get out of bed, so she hadn’t, simply opening the laptop that slept in the bed beside her these days and zoning out to episode after episode of Ozark, not particularly concerned with the hour or the fact that she had to log in to virtual classes in the morning.

Robby sighed, and now that the confusion and shock had lifted, Maya could see how exhausted he was, how finding his kid still awake was just another obstacle keeping him from bed when he would probably have to be back in the hospital for another shift in just a few hours. 

“It’s time for bed,” he answered and Maya nodded. 

“I lost track of time,” she said, a wave of guilt washing over her because she could only imagine the type of day he’d had while she wallowed in bed watching Netflix. “I’m sorry, I—”

Doing alright--a bit better as I'm in the middle of a 4-day weekend that I didn't realize how desperately I needed. ❤️

——

“Are you lying to me right now?”

Jack tilted his head as he studied Maya, his glance shifting between her and the pot of chips in the middle of the table. He heaved a sigh turning toward Jake. "What do you think, man?"

Jake glanced at Maya, though it wasn't a truly accessing glance. "I know better than to try guessing about her poker face."

"That's probably a smart move," Robby said as he nudged Jake. "You're on your own for this one, Jack."

Jack fixed Maya with another look, and Maya met his gaze. "So what'll it be, Uncle Abe? You calling or folding?"

Jack groaned, tossing his cards aside. "You're a menace, you know that, right?"

Maya didn't answer, merely smirking to herself as she pulled the pot of chips closer and began stacking them.

1. Why didn’t she take Robbie’s name in the adoption?

2. What would she think about how Robby is acting rn?

A few reasons. People actually referred to Maya and her mom as "the Bennett girls" (even Robby). Maya's mom wouldn't have changed her name even if she got married, and Maya's the same way—a Bennett girl through and through. It's a piece of her mom that she'll never give up. And it never really occurred to either one of them to change her name. They were family regardless. The adoption was just a bit of paperwork that made their lives easier.

ik things can change as new details emerge but do you see Maya going with him on this sabbatical trip?

Yeah...I usually have some inspo for how I see the characters but nothing definitive for face claims for the most part. I've never seen euphoria, but Maya definitely loves a hoodie and I could see converse as well.

I kind of want to wait to binge them all, but at the same time know i won't be able to avoid spoilers if I wait...

So i’m just wondering, i know her and Robby’s relationship broke off pretty amicably but what was their relationship like? Their dynamic, I’d love to know how they met, how long they dated and how they became a sort of family unit (with little Maya). Does Robby feel a type of way about her after all these years, although it was the natural decision i imagine it may be a bit heavy adopting/raising the child of your dead ex-partner. How did he feel about her passing, how did he mourn it (if he did, we know he’s the type to bottle things up), even now? I’m just asking because during his breakdown in the later episodes he mentions everyone he lost, even the people he didn’t seem that affected by, so what type of way does he feel about Maya’s mom? If any?

i just love the way your building their relationship together and their dynamic, and I love how Maya is being slotted perfectly into the pitt world.

In honor of Season 2 coming along, I’m coming back to this terrific ask about Maya’s mom. 💕

She was pretty badass. A super cool, upbeat person who would actually say she had been dealt a great life. It was honestly wild how positive she was able to be in every situation and quite a contrast to Maya who saw the potential negatives in most situations, even as a little kid.

Mom’s name is Alana Bennett. She dropped out of college when Maya came along and since her parents weren’t supportive and the father not involved, she ended up working a lot off odd office type jobs to get them by for awhile. After a few years, Alana got a full-time job at one of the universities in Pittsburgh doing office work. She worked really hard to get the job because working for the university meant free tuition for finishing her degree and doing a masters program as well as free daycare/ preschool for Maya.

Alana had been studying Art History and wanted to be a museum curator so she started doing part-time classes to finish up her undergraduate degree before enrolling in the masters program (also enrolled part-time so she could continue working so it was taking forever).

Robby and Alana actually met in the ER. Maya was a frequent flyer due to her asthma so they’d come across each other then. And Alana made the first move and gave Robby her number right away. He was just so good with Maya and he was funny and matched Alana’s energy in banter and she just knew right away that she wanted to date him.

And she was right. They got along great. Things were great when they were together, but there were definitely difficulties with scheduling as they were both so busy and beyond that, Alana planned to move when she finished up her degree to worked at an art museum. That was a nonnegotiable for her and since Robby had no intention of leaving Pittsburgh, they decided to call it quits sooner rather than later, especially since Maya was involved.

Alana hadn’t intended for the three of them to be like a little family unit. She never introduced men she dated to Maya, but when they had a date scheduled and the babysitter canceled, Robby said to just bring Maya along. Alana had hesitated for about a second before figuring it would be fine. Maya already knew Robby from the ER anyway. And she clearly liked him—Maya asked about him every time they ended up there for one of her asthma attacks. 😅 so Alana took Maya on her date with Robby and it went great and so it just became something they did because they sort of decided Alana shouldn’t waste her money on a babysitter every single date when they’d both rather be spending time with Maya anyway…

It’s definitely a weird thing for Robby to raise Maya given the circumstance but also very natural, as you said. Like there really was no other viable option in his head and it’s a complicated thing for him to mourn Alana’s loss. He definitely bottles a lot and puts Maya’s needs way above his own. He struggles a lot in the beginning and genuinely would not have made it through without the support from Adamson, Dana, and Abbot. I’m pretty sure Robby wasn’t even clued into the fact that he was grieving (he’s not all that self-aware). And throughout his time raising Maya, this very interesting thing happens where he learns so much more about Alana than Robby ever knew as Maya talks about her mom. It’s such a weird thing to continually learn all of these new little bits about this woman he’d been just in the early stages still of knowing and loving(?) I don’t think they were quite there yet but there was a mutual respect and care and attraction and they’re split was more of like a right people, wrong situation sort of thing so in learning all of these new little bits from Maya, he’s also imagining what could have been a little differently.

AHHH I cannot wait to be able to watch s2 and mentally imagine Maya in every single scene lol ::D

I’m also excited for season 2 so i can get some more info/ inspiration!

I imagine him being short with her after a long day maybe a handful of times, and one of those times, it’s a little worse and he sees Maya is upset by it so Robby realizes he needs to figure something else out so he’s not displacing his anger/frustration/ stress on her. Some nights, he puts his headphones in and takes the long way to pick her up from the afterschool program. Or if Jack has already picked her up and brought her to the Pitt, Robby leaves her in the staff lounge and takes a few laps around to decompress for a few extra minutes. It’s not perfect and it doesn’t eliminate his stress but it helps and it’s better than snapping at his kid when he doesn’t really mean to. Another thing he finds helps is getting them both out of the house so while he would love nothing more than to have a few beers and climb into bed after some shifts, they go out and do stuff—go to the park, museum, movies, bowling, etc.. Maya knows her dad had a rough day when they’re getting out to do something fun on a school night. And she can pretty much just tell anyway. She knows when her dad isn’t quite himself even if Robby does a pretty good job of keeping that stuff buried.

In her teen years, Maya starts suggesting outings / activities when Robby gets home from work because she can tell he’s a little off. Technically, she could just give him space and he could have his beers and go to bed or whatever to decompress but it’s their routine to handle it together and Robby honestly feels better when they do stuff. Sometimes even after she moves out, Abbot will text her so she knows to check in with her dad and they do something together.

It’s really difficult during the pandemic because he is incredibly stressed and they can’t really go anywhere. They end up taking these really long walks some nights. There are definitely times when Robby wants to be taking these walks alone but Maya is so deeply lonely during this time (she’s stuck at home, he’s at the hospital for long hours) so they walk together. Sometimes they talk, sometimes they don’t and it’s what gets them through.