Breathe (Bondi rescue fanfic)

Chapter 26

I woke to the smell of croissants and orange juice, and to the sound of Chappo singing along to the radio. It was going to be a good day, I could feel it.

I got dressed as quick as I could and headed out to the kitchen. "Morning sunshine!" Chappo chirped, "how are ya?" I wheeled myself over to him and grabbed him by his top, pulling him down towards me and kissed him. "Wow, that good?" Chappo chuckled as he sat down at the table. I hadn't felt this good, physically, since the accident. I think the exercise at the pool helped, as I used to be a fairly fit person, I loved to cycle, so I missed getting some form of exercise.

"Who's on today?" I asked, taking a large bite out of my croissant. "Me, you, Deano, Azza and Maxi" Chappo replied. I chuckled under my breath. "What?" Chappo said, pieces of croissant flying out of his mouth. "Oh nothing. it's just, it's Deano and Azza, fully functioning adults, against 3 adults who act like big kids" Chappo looked at me, and I was afraid I had insulted him, but then he muttered, "Well, you're not wrong." A smile broke across my face as I wheeled myself over to the sink, putting my glass and plate in. Chappo stood up up and followed in suit. 

"Need anything from the bedroom?" He asked as I was tying my shoes. "I left my backpack by the bedside locker if you could grab it please." I listened to his footsteps as I waited.  I never knew why, but I'd always loved listening to simple, everyday sounds. I could hear the sound  of his thongs 'flip-flopping' as he walked back out into the living room. "Ready?" He asked as he swung open the front door.

We took our time on the way to work, it was the first time we had ever gotten up earlier than we needed. 

It was an  overcast day, and the waves were at least 10 feet. It was a perfect day for surfers. I knew what that meant. Busy day for me. The conditions were the ones that resulted in a lot of rescues, so I would be tending to some of them. Also, I reckoned there was going to be a lot of flat rock victims. I didn't mind though. I know its horrible for people to be in those situations, but I was happy to help and hopefully make the experience not all that bad.

By the time we reached the tower, Deano and Azza were already there and set up for the day. Maxi and Chappo were gonna be in the rhino down at backpackers, Deano would be up at southend, and Azza was on tower duty. I was, of course, also in the tower.

I decided to use the time before my first patient to sort out the medical cabinet. The guys tried their best to keep it tidy, but there really was no system to the way things were sorted in it. It was a thing about me. I liked to know  where everything was. 

I had just finished reorganizing the bandages by size order when there was a knock on the door. As I went to spin my chair around, Azza stood up and went over to the door. It was a man, probably mid to late twenties, and he had a pretty deep gash in his arm. "What happened?" Azza said, helping him over to the bed beside me. "I was surfing and I wiped out, and the fin on my board went into my arm. I opened the medical cabinet again and took out some gauze, bandages, wipes and an anti-septic spray. "Ok, well this is Tiff, our nurse, she'll take care of ya and patch ya up" Azza explained, getting back to watching out. "You can sit down on the chair or the bed, whichever you find more comfortable." I said, opening up the wipe, ready to clean around the wound. "I don't want to sit on either" He scoffed. "Oh, sorry, would you rather lie down" I asked, gesturing to the bed. "No" He grunted. "I'm sorry, it's just I can't tend to your arm with you standing up, as I am unable to stand up." I explained. "That's exactly the problem" He muttered. "I'm sorry, I don't understand" I replied, puzzled. "I don't want a sick person treating me" He said, in a rather unpleasant tone. "I'm not sick" I said, "I just can't use my legs. And even if I was sick, that should not be a problem. we're all people here" I was trying to stay calm, but inside I was furious. "Well, still, I don't want you treating me, no offense." I looked at him, and I knew he was in no fit state to leave without at least bandaging his arm. "Just because you say no offense doesn't make it any less offensive" I retorted, really getting annoyed now. "But look, that arm needs medical attention, and you don't have to like me, but I am qualified to treat it for you, you can't leave with your arm in that state, at least let me bandaged it for you." I said, trying to be the bigger person. "Can't that guy just do it?" He replied, rolling his eyes, as though he was bored. "Alright" I said, "Azza, can you come here for a minute?" I heard him push back his chair and walk over. It didn't take him long to see that the guy's arm was still untreated. "What's happening?" He asked, confused. "He refusing to let me treat him" I explained. "Well if he doesn't want to be treated we can't force him" Azza replied. "No no, he doesn't want me to treat him" I watched Azza's face as the penny dropped, and I could see he was not happy with the guy. He nodded, and began treating the guy.

Azza had him all bandaged up within 5 minutes, not caring to chit chat with the man. "Tiff" He said, as he went to wash his hands, "I'm so sorry that happened, I knew there would come a point where you'd have to deal with someone unpleasant, I just didn't think it would be that soon, or for those reasons." I looked at Azza and gave him a faint smile, "It's not your fault, anyway, it's not worth my time thinking about what people like him say." Azza nodded, and headed back over to sit down again. "Just one thing Azza, can this stay between you and me, I don't want Chappo finding out."

***

Hey guys! 

Sorry about the months gap, really.

I know it's a pretty uneventful chapter, but hope you guys enjoy it all the same :)

Please feel free to comment/leave feedback :)

And 19.7k reads????  How can I even begin to thank you guys!!!

-Niamhxoxo