Breathe
By Sonia
Disclaimer: These wonderful characters belong to Southern Star and I'm just borrowing them to provide some amusement for my friends. I am not making any monetary gain from them at all.
Emma Woods was having trouble breathing. This could kill her, she thought.
Sitting around at home nursing a chronic case of the flu and being unable to dive was driving her to the brink of insanity. Even the cover stories on the trash mags were starting to look good.
Her medical certificate said she could go back to work at the end of the week on restricted duties. Ugh, this probably meant she'd be stuck behind a desk pushing paper. If Emma had wanted to do that she'd have become a secretary.
She picked up her pen and went back to her crossword.
A few days later Emma returned to work. Out of habit she headed straight for the divers area and stowed her gear in her locker. Being in uniform instead of her diving gear or overalls felt really strange. The inside of her locker was a little cluttered but otherwise, it was pretty neat. Inside the door she had taped a few photos, one in particular always made her laugh. It was a photo of her, Tayler and Rachel at last year's Christmas party.
They were leaning on the back of Helen's lounge and had more than a little bit to drink. They were joking around, linking arms and striking super model style poses. Then they had over balanced and fallen backwards on to the lounge, shrieking with laughter all the way.
Emma didn't know anything about anyone having a camera until Gavin handed her a copy of the photo a few days later.
The first person she ran into was Dave, who was looking a little too serious for her liking.
"Woodsie, Jeff wants to see you in his office now. Did you do something on sick leave that I should know about? "
"Don't know … back five minutes and I'm already in the gun. Keep this up and I'll know the inside of Hawker's office better than Syksie"
Emma shrugged and headed towards the boss' office.
"With Johnson gone to the airwing and Sykes on leave, we're short staffed and need someone on the boat crew. Get down to the wharf and meet up with Tavita."
Hawker turned around and started to feed his fish.
Without realising it, Emma let out the breath she had been holding. Thank God, she wasn't going to be stuck in the office. She was definitely an outdoors girl.
On her way down to the Nemesis, Emma started to smile; working with Tommy was going to be a scream.
Since that night at the Cutter Bar after Rachel's funeral, she and Tommy had become pretty good mates. Nothing too serious but they always had plenty of fun together. Emma was still trying to get rid of the bruises after Tavita slammed into her in the landing pool of a water slide park a couple of weekends ago.
"Morning Tommy, you're stuck with me until Syksie gets back.
"Definitely not a problem and here's hoping it will be a peaceful day.
"Amen and Hallelujah to that."
It was the sort of day that made Emma glad to be out on the Harbour. It was positively breathtaking. The sun was shining and there was just enough breeze in the air to take the edge off. The majority of their jobs during the morning were pretty routine.
"Have you heard from Tayler?
"Are you asking for yourself or Gavin?" Emma laughed
"What do you think?" Tommy was laughing now. His regular partner's feelings for Tayler Johnson were no secret among the divers or the boat crew.
"Funnily enough, she's on about four or five rest days and was thinking about going out of town.
"This is starting to get fishier than my dad's trawler. Syksie was planning to head up the coast for a few days. I wonder if they're together….
"Oh duh…what do you reckon?"
The radio crackled to life, silencing Tommy and Emma's laughter.
"VKG Sydney Water Police. Do you read Nemesis?
"This is Nemesis, go ahead Sydney Water Police
"We have a report of a body floating just near the Heads. Can you attend?
"Copy that VKG, Nemesis clear"
Tommy gunned the engines on Nemesis and turned the boat towards the sea. Emma started to ready the platform they'd need to use to begin retrieving the body. They had just about reached the Heads and Emma had the body bag and grappling hook ready.
The Nemesis lined up as close as it could to the body. It was a man, in his mid thirties Emma supposed. It looked like he had been there for a while judging by the tiny nibbles other marine life had taken. Emma locked the platform onto the side of the Nemesis and started to extend the grappling hook towards the body. She had just about got the body towards the platform and was reaching behind her for the body bag.
"Holy shit Tommy!"
Tavita flew down the ladder to the lower deck just in time to see the shark offer a very toothy grin at Emma and drag the lower half of the body back under the water. Blood started to mark the water. The pool of blood spreading outwards as the body continued to just float there.
Woodsie started to shake – diving among sharks in a shark cage was one thing but being ear marked as the next course of their midday meal was quite another. Tommy dragged her back on to the boat.
There was still half a body in the ocean that had to be retrieved. It was someone's father, husband, brother or lover and there was a group of relatives out there that would like something tangible to say goodbye to.
"You want me to have a go at that?" Tommy asked.
"Thanks but no thanks. I started this and I'm not going to let an overgrown piece of sushi keep me from finishing it.
"I'll hang down here while you bring him in any way.
Emma picked up the grappling hook and stepped down onto the platform. She could hear the crackling of the blue plastic body bag behind her. The breeze had started to pick up - being downwind of a rotting corpse certainly had its moments.
The grappling hook had snagged the body and Emma was dragging the body back towards the boat. Just as silently as it arrived the first time, the shark rose out of the water – all teeth and attitude.
It wanted its second course. NOW
It latched onto the body and with a twist of its powerful lean body; the shark clamped its jaws around the body and dragged it back under the water. Emma and Tommy could only look at each other.
The crew back at the station was never going to believe this. Tommy indicated they should try and gather some of the body tissue that was floating in the water, just in case they'd be able to identify the man through DNA testing.
"Are you okay?
"Yeah Tommy, I'll be able to breathe again in a minute.
"Actually Woodsie, I'd like to take your breath away.
"What?"
This day was beginning to get a little too surreal, Emma thought.
Tommy dragged her towards an enclosed area of the Nemesis. Both of them were starting to shake now. They knew the risks of this job but some days those risks became all too close to being reality.
Emma looked at Tommy and they stepped into each other's arms for a reassuring hug. Soon that was not enough. Their lips met and it was a kiss that left them both breathless.
The End