Everyone can struggle (Bondi Rescue FanFic)

Chapter 24

Maxi starts laughing and I look around confused. "He's smiling Lil, relax." Maxi says, placing his hand on my arm. 

Tom turns back to face me and says "Happy tears! I might be able to walk again!" I laugh as tears stream down my face too. I lean forward and envelop him in my arms. 

"That's great lovely! Did they do something for the pain?" He nods and hugs me back. Maxi coughs. "I hate to break this up." Maxi laughs as if he really doesn't mean it. "But the doctor's here and he does actually want to go home." I pull away and Tom laughs.

"Okay." the doctor says "You can go home. Take the medication for a few weeks. A physio will come and see you tomorrow. Any questions?" We all shake our heads and he leaves. 

"We all ready to head back?" Maxi asks. We nod and he helps Tom into his chair. Then we begin the walk back home. Tom falls asleep after a while. 

"How are you?" Maxi asks.

"He's asleep Maxi." I tell him and he looks at me.

"I was talking to you." I smile.

"I thought I told you to stop worrying? Nah, I'm fine. They've not been all day." He nods. We arrive home and Maxi decides he'll carry Tom to bed. When he arrives back he's looking concerned. 

"What's happened?" I ask, panicking. 

"Nothing Lil. Relax. But if he can walk, he'll probably want to go back to lifeguarding.. I don't know what the guys will make of it." I nod. 

"I was thinking about it earlier. When he gets stronger, we can talk to Hoppo. Deano was okay when we met him at Bondi.  I just don't know whether he'll cope to be honest but we have a while until he'll be anywhere near ready." Maxi smiles.

"I'm gonna get off. You go with him. Just call if you need. Chappo's off tomorrow so call him overnight. I hope you're both ok." He smiles and hugs me before leaving. 

As I walk into our room, Tom begins to stir. "Hey," he says, smiling. "Everything's gonna just keep getting better now. We're both recovering. I love you."

You don't even know the meaning of recovery. Keep pretending and then tomorrow you can go. He has to pretend to love you because he thinks that he doesn't want to hurt you but once you're gone, he'll be so much happier. 

I shake my head to try and get rid of them and Tom notices. "They're here?" he asks.

"Nah I'm good." 

"Don't lie to me Lily." I sigh and nod. "I'll call Sarah." he says, "Stay with me darling." He pulls me in as he reaches for the phone. He talks for a while then hangs up. "She's gonna come tomorrow. You want to sleep now?" he asks and I smile, burying my head into his chest. "Wake me if you need to Lil. Everything's locked so we're safe." I laugh inwardly at that. I'm never safe and there's always a way out but I try to forget it and just sleep. 

I'm floating above Bondi. I recognise the day. I watch as Tom sprints into the water with the rescue board to the struggling teenage boy. The boy climbs on the board and accidentally knocks Tom off. He gets confused and panics so Tom climbs back onto the board, settles the boy and paddles them back to shore. As Tom gets back to the beach, Chappo meets him and they laugh about the unusual rescue. A voice comes over the scene "That's what would have happened if you weren't there. You made the boy hurt Tom, you did this to him."    

"Lily? Lil. Come on darling. Wake up." I hear Tom's voice as he shakes me. I open my eyes and he hugs me. "I'm so sorry.. I'm so sorry.." I repeat over and over as he tries to soothe me. "I made you like this.. If I wasn't at the beach it would just be a normal rescue. I'm going. Sorry. I know." I say but he won't let me leave. 

"Lily. This isn't true beautiful. It would be exactly the same. Trust me, I don't blame you so you can't blame yourself. I wouldn't even be here if you hadn't been there. I'm not letting you go anywhere." I give up and lay back against his chest. "Sarah's coming tomorrow. She'll be able to help you." I nod and we finally sleep peacefully.