Sweet Summer Sunsets- A Robert Irwin FanFic

Robert

Ashley came up behind me and zipped up my wetsuit. I tried not think about the way her fingers felt on my back as she held the wetsuit together with one hand and slowly zipped it with the other. Her fingers lingered at the base of my neck and then her hands went across my collarbones and down my shoulders from behind.

"Ready?" She said, grabbing her flippers and snorkel mask off the table.

"Ye-yeah," I said, obviously a little flustered and my cheeks burning. I grabbed my flippers and mask as well and took a deep breath before I let her lead the way back up to the main part of the boat.

Chandler was sitting on the edge of the back of the boat, his feet dangling into the ocean with Grace on his lap. Bindi was sitting next to him, cross-legged with Noosa's container in front of her. Mine and Ashley's mums were standing nearby as well.

"Okay so how are we doing this team," I said, grabbing my camera bag off the couch as Ashley and I approached where everyone was gathered.

"I think you and Ashley should get in first, and then Chandler or Bindi can lower Noosa in and we can hang out here to make sure she gets on okay and then you can take your photos," Mum said.

"That sounds good to me," Ashley said.

We sat down next to Chandler and Bindi and I started setting up my camera and putting the waterproof camera cover on it. Ashley put on her flippers and sat with her feet dangling over the edge of the boat, flippers in the water, her head turned to look at me.

Once she saw that I had the camera ready she jumped in the water, holding onto the boat. I jumped in after her, treading water next to her.

Bindi and Chandler picked Noosa up out of the container and lowered her into the water in between Ashley and me, with Grace still on Chandler's lap.

"Bye-bye Noosa," Grace said, gently petting her shell as Chandler and Bindi lowered her towards the water. Noosa moved her flippers in an attempt to get to the water quicker, which is a good sign as it shows that she healed well and was ready to be released.

As soon as Bindi and Chandler got her in the water, she was off. Ashley and I quickly dove under the water, following Noosa a small distance away from the boat. I snapped photos of her as she swam, making sure to get plenty of the coral reef in the photos as well, I knew Ashley would love seeing photos with the corals and she could use them for artistic inspiration.

We swam around and I took photos for several minutes, coming up for air or using our snorkels when we could. Eventually, Noosa had gone farther than we were comfortable with swimming, and Ashley and I came to the surface.

"I think I got some really great shots," I said as we trod water. I looked around to see the boat, and thankfully we didn't get that far from it. However, Ashley seemed out of breath. "You alright love?"

"Yeah," she said, panting.

"Oh, your shoulder, right?" I said, remembering how her shoulder injury from when we were kids makes swimming a bit harder for her.

"Ye-yeah, but I'm okay. It was worth it, we just need to get back to the boat so I can breathe," she said, still a bit out of breath but she was able to laugh slightly.

We both dove underwater again, this time swimming back toward the boat. I surfaced before Ashley and held onto the edge of the back of the boat. I looked around in the water, trying to see if I could figure out where she was or if something had happened.

My heart briefly dropped in panic when she didn't surface in a few seconds, but I saw her shadow right by my feet, and then she popped up, grabbing the edge of the boat.