New Beginnings | A Bondi Rescue Fanfic

You Think You've Seen It All

"Strawberry or vanilla milkshake?"

"Strawberry, hands down." Tania grinned as she sat down across Jo in the Bucket List, a thankful escape from the chaos of Bondi during her lunch break.

"So how's the day been?" Jo asked inquisitively, flicking through the menu.

"Oh, y'know, the usual," Tania shrugged lightly, suppressing the urge to roll her eyes as she thought of the regular antics beachgoers were up to.

"More like the unusual, given the stories Az's told me over the years."

"Well," Tania pondered, "other than the usual people coming up for sunscreen or asking us to babysit their kids-"

"How you deal with them I have no idea."

"You just get used to it, sadly," Tania tucked a strand of loose hair behind her ear. "We did have a bloke saying there was this aggressive penguin down south and it turned out to be a cormorant."

"Reminds me of the Chinese woman who apparently had no idea her Tibetan mastiff was a bear," Jo chuckled dryly.

"It makes no sense, right?" Tania said incredulously. "We did catch a bunch of kids trying to bury their trash in the sand, Koby was fuming. I mean, I love this job, but some of the people you deal with are honestly a special kind. In the worst way possible."

As the two of them chattered away, their food arrived a while after they ordered- the classic fish burger and fish 'n' chips.

"So has Whip said it yet?" Jo asked curiously between mouthfuls of her burger.

"Said what?" Tania replied, pouring a generous amount of ketchup onto her plate.

"Oh, you know, the three words-"

"What?" Tania nearly choked on a piece of fish, "Jo, we've been dating for four months. Four months."

Jo merely shrugged. "Oh c'mon, anyone can tell just by the way you two look at each other that you're head over heels in love."

Tania studiously avoided Jo's steady gaze, neatly dabbing her lips with a napkin, yet she couldn't ignore the flutter of her heart whenever his name was mentioned.

"I don't think I'm ready," she said stoutly. "The only person I'd ever said that to was Hadrian, and I thought he was going to be my forever."

Jo remained silent, but Tania could tell Jo disagreed with her.

"Well, he's ditched me and said the same words to some other chick," Tania said somewhat bitterly. "I don't know why I'm so hung up on him."

"I'm going to change that," Jo said resolutely. "C'mon, Whip's different, you and I both know that," she shot back. "The whole world does!"

"He is something special," Tania couldn't help the edges of her mouth curling up.

"How's your mum, by the way?" She sighed gratefully as Jo changed the subject.

"Mum's good, we actually had lunch the other day and she's finally gets that lifeguarding isn't just about chatting up hot blokes and tanning and shit," she snorted derisively.

"Well, she did get rescued first hand, that has to have some sort of impact."

"Yeah, and Dad's actually kinda happy now, I think he realizes medicine just isn't my path, y'know?"

"I'm so happy for you," Jo put down her burger as Tania scoffed. "Seriously, if anyone deserves peace and happiness, it's you."

"Jo," Tania sighed.