I wake with a start, unable to remember anything from yesterday. Chap stirs and hugs me as he pulls himself awake. The heavy feeling overcomes me as the memories from yesterday's resus come back. "Okay?" Chap asks, concerned. I nod slowly. "There's a debrief about yesterday. Hop wants you to come too. I don't know what you remember.." I nod again. "Brooke..? What are you thinking?"
"Nothing. I'm okay. You want a drink?"
"I'll do it." I shake my head.
"My treat- you get a free drink this morning." I force a smile as he lets me go. As I walk through to the kitchen, I force the memories out of my head and focus on making coffee. He had a wife, a child on the way, and he would be dead without the guys. I finish the drinks in a daze. What happens if the guys aren't at the beach? Or if they are and it just doesn't work? How can they deal with that? Am I ever going to be ready for that?
"Hey, you're okay. Maybe I should cancel today.." He sits next to me as I've somehow ended up on the floor. I rest my head against him.
"I'm fine Chap. We'll just go to the debrief thing then come back." He shakes his head.
"I didn't mean that.. I kinda had something planned.. I didn't want to tell you.. I didn't want you to get upset if you were too ill and then after yesterday.. We can cancel it easily enough though.."
"I feel okay. What are you planning?"
"It's a secret. Some of the guys may also be in on it, but no one will tell you!" He grins. "Why are we on the floor? Is everything okay?"
"I don't actually know. I feel okay though. It's comfortable don't you think?"
"Yeah, I've always loved sitting on the floor." He teases, "Can we get you up then?" I nod. He practically lifts me to my feet, holding me tightly. "Okay? Now how do you feel?" My head is swimming but I smile.
"I'm okay." He nods.
"I know you're not but I'm not arguing. Can you get ready? We need to be at the beach in about an hour." I get ready quickly before we eat toast and rush out the door.
We arrive at Hoppo's office quickly and he smiles as we step inside. We're the last to arrive and everyone looks sympathetically at me as we sit down, Chap taking my hand reassuringly. "So, as you all know, we don't always do this but a few things about yesterday made us decide it would be a good idea. Firstly and probably most obvious, to help Brooke understand and everything. Of course we also have to take into account the reality of the family we treated yesterday and the nature of what we're doing. So, Mouse, you want to start?"
"I guess so. Obviously there was a lot of people falling off the back of the sandbank and the beach was busy. You know that feeling where you just know something will go wrong? As I was paddling back out I had that and just knew there'd be a resus somewhere. Anyway, as I got to the guy he was under completely and I could barely get him up. When we got back to the beach a woman, his wife, came up to us, hysterical, as we pulled him up the beach and started working. I think that was worse y'know, just seeing her and the lives that were in our hands. It wasn't just him, he had a family too. Yeah, I mean, everyone else did more of the resus because I felt like it was my job to look after his wife. It's just good to know we got him back too." Hoppo nods calmly.
"For my part, I think everyone did everything right, all within our time frames. It was also good to see you looking out for his wife since we know how hard watching that must be. And obviously we did get the guy back which you should all be proud of." He looks to me cautiously and I nod letting him know I'm ready to speak. "Okay, Brooke?"
"Hey.. So I obviously had nothing to do with it.. But I guess Hop wants me to talk about how I am.. Yeah.. I mean, knowing he had a family, that's it isn't it? They're real people, it could happen to anyone really. I just think it's amazing that you guys saved someone's life.. And I know you probably don't see it anymore, because it's every day but you did. Anyway, I guess I'll get used to it, I just wasn't in the best state yesterday anyway so I think it just made a mark because of that." The guys all smile at me as Hop talks again. We talk for a few more minutes, everyone telling their part and how they feel about it, before people start to leave. Chap pulls me closer.
"You did well. Y'know you can talk to me about it whenever you need to, don't you?" I nod as he grins. "Well then, we have plans to keep." He pulls away, kissing me softly. "I'm proud of you." Hoppo steps forward.
"You know where we are if you need anything Brooke. Anyway, I hear you two have plans so go enjoy yourselves!" He smiles as we stand to leave. Chap leads me back to the car and drives home.
"So.." He turns to me quickly, "Seriously, do you feel able to go out somewhere?" I nod, actually believing myself for once. "Well then.." He laughs and his happiness actually reaches his eyes. "Do you want to go see what you can find in the bathroom?" I have no idea what he's talking about as he follows me to the bathroom. As I walk in, I see a box on the floor.
"Okay.."
"Open it Brooke! We don't have all day!" I laugh as I pull the lid off the box. A beautiful sleeved blue dress sits inside.
"Oh..." I'm in awe, knowing how much it must have cost and how perfect it is.
"You might want to try it on." He teases. I shut the door on him and maneuver into the dress. It fits perfectly but I don't want to remind him that I can't walk without the crutches. "Come on, I want to see!" He shouts as I open the door. "Wow.." he breathes, kissing me softly. "You look amazing, seriously. The small problem we have is that your crutches don't really go with it." He laughs as he picks up some blue, sparkling crutches. "Specially made for you." Tears stand in my eyes as I see the effor he's gone to, for me. I don't remember anyone ever caring so much. "Okay so actual last thing. I know it's painful for you to put make up on so follow me."
"You're not going to try are you?" He laughs, shaking his head. "You remember meeting Lilli? Well, she heard about our plans and offered to help with your hair. Whip's wife, Gina, is going to do your make up and then you can also make friends!" He grins as he opens the bedroom door to the two women. Lilli immediately starts talking about what she can do and how beautiful I look. "Okay, I'll leave you to it. Whip is coming to drive us away too. You girls have fun!"
It's only about an hour before both girls step back. "I don't think I ever looked this good, even on my wedding day!" Lilli smiles as she hugs me.
"Now it's time to go wow the boys!" Gina laughs as we step outside..
