𝚋𝚘𝚛𝚗 𝚒𝚗𝚗𝚘𝚌𝚎𝚗𝚝 {𝚓𝚓 𝚖𝚊𝚢𝚋𝚊𝚗𝚔}

𝚜.𝟷 𝚎𝚙.𝟹 -𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝚜𝚒𝚡-

"come over here and sit next to me / we could see what things grow naturally / just say the word and I'll part the sea / just come over here and sit next to me."

Tate stepped out onto the dock just in time to hear JJ saying, "God bless geeks, Pope. Truly, man. What would we do without you to control the drones?"

"Technically it's not a drone. It's an ROV-"

"Shut up. Shut up. It's too early for that right now." JJ looked out over the railing at the water where John B and Kiara were swimming around, testing the drone they'd stolen.

Pope looked up when Tate joined them, balancing a large carrier container of to-go cups in her arms. "I brought coffee," she said as cheerfully as she could after working the morning shift at The Wreck with basically no sleep the night before.

"Ahhh, bless you." JJ grinned and grabbed one of the cups, then patted Tate a bit awkwardly on the shoulder.

Pope watched them with raised eyebrows before grabbing a cup of his own and going back to watching the drone footage. In the water, John B treaded to stay in place and looked up at them. "Hey, look, once we get footage of the wreck, we'll bring it to a lawyer in town and file a formal claim," he said knowingly. Tate knew the whole schpiel off by heart from her uncle.

"It's such bullshit. Why do we have to do that?" asked JJ. Tate moved to stand next to him at the edge of the dock, staring vacantly out over the water.

Pope looked up from the footage again. "Well, there is maritime salvage law." He stood on the other side of JJ, propping his arms on the railing. "You can't just go to the ocean floor and scrape a bunch of stuff up."

"I know, I know," JJ cut in. "It's just- lawyers aren't cheap, bro."

"Well, as soon as they see the footage, they'll work for a comp," said John B, still treading water. Tate nodded silently and sipped her coffee. She was suddenly hyper-aware of how close JJ was standing to her. It was too early to be overthinking this much.

Kiara swept her sopping hair out of her eyes and tread water too, a few feet away from John B. "How do you know all of that?"

"Cause my dad said it, like, a million times," said John B.

Kiara nodded. "Yeah, that's fair."

"This tether is, like, really long," said Pope, and JJ and Tate looked over at him, both relieved to have an excuse to end the uncomfortable silence between them. "In the wrong weather, it could get pushed around."

"Gotta go between tides," Tate said softly.

John B hoisted himself onto the ladder and joined them on the deck. "Yeah, we'll be in the dead calm." At that moment, thunder rumbled in the distance. JJ and Tate exchanged a dark look and she followed him out onto the bridge to get a better look at the sky.