Chapter Text
The tower is quiet, low tide and grim weather.
Waves rolling in steady, a few swimmers between the flags, nothing dramatic enough to pull focus. Harmony, halfway through a scan of the water slightly stretching sore muscles. The radio crackles again, overlapping voices this time. She knows its urgent.
Fuck.
“Hoppo to tower”
“Hi hoppo, anything I can do for you?”
“Hey. We’ve had an incident at Bronte,” Hoppo says. His voice is calm, but she knows better than to trust calm.
“Jet ski rollover during a rescue.”
The world seems to tilt, almost imagining it.
“Okay,” Harmony say, already standing.
“Who’s involved?”
“Jesse and Maxi.”
Her heart slams so hard it’s almost painful.
“Who’s hurt?” she asks, not bothering to hide the fear now.
There’s a pause.
“Jesse,” Hoppo says.
“He took the impact. He’s conscious, but paramedics are on the way.”
Harmony swallows hard. “And Maxi?”
“He’s okay,” Hoppo answers quickly.
“Shaken, but on his feet.” Relief hits for half a second before something colder replaces it.
“Jesse doesn’t know that,” Hoppo adds.
“He lost sight of Maxi when the ski rolled. He’s convinced Maxi was the one hit.”
Her chest tightens painfully. Harries is watching her now, he sees the panic on her face.
“I'll handle it, dont worry, he needs you”
“I’m coming down,” she says into the radio
“Get your tower covered,” Hoppo replies.
“Then come straight to Bronte.”
She barely remembers handing off the radio. Barely remembering climbing down the steps.
Her hands shake as she grabs her phone, every worst case scenario running wild in Harmony's head despite Hoppo’s words.
Conscious doesn’t mean fine.
By the time she reaches Bronte, the beach feels wrong. Sirens in the distance, lifeguards clustered tighter than usual.
Harmony scans frantically, heart pounding; And then she sees Maxi.
He’s standing near the shoreline, towel draped around his shoulders, wet hair plastered to his forehead. Pale. Shaken. But upright. Talking animatedly with one of the boys like he’s trying to convince himself everything’s normal. Alive.
My breath catches. Then she sees Jesse. He’s on the sand, surrounded by paramedics, his leg is immobilised, body rigid with the effort of staying still. His wetsuit’s been cut away, shoulder strapped tight, face drawn and tense. But it’s his eyes that undo me. They’re searching the beach desperately.
“Maxi?” he keeps asking.
“Has anyone seen Maxi?”
As she gets to them, hes already on the stretcher, changing her pace Harmony catches up, tapping Hux on the shoulder.
“You alright?” He asks before I can even deflect
“Trying but yea- how is he though?”
“To be honest mate, I dont know myself.”
Fuck fuck fuck fuck. Hux please dont joke with me.
“You're kidding.”
“I wouldnt joke about this Harmony, I genuinely dont know, he'll be okay though its Jesse”
“Its Jesse” I look at him, then back, and then Jesse. And again. Again. Whats so special about Jesse?
“Right..” I mumble as Hoppo gestures me to get in.