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"Sometimes the very thing you're looking for - is the one thing you can't see�"
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She grabbed at the phone, clutching it clumsily and watching in desperation as it slipped from her hand and tumbled to the floor. She ducked down, grabbing it, then standing. "Jim? JIM?"
She heard nothing for a moment, then crackles, static. She could just hear a voice, but it sounded like it was ten thousand miles away rather than two hundred. "Jim, is that you? Jim - talk to me!"
"�this�" Buzz. "..Ackland?" It seemed to June as if the person on the other end of the phone was moving around, trying to get a clear signal.
"This is June Ackland, who is this?" Now that there was less interference, she had begun to gather, much to her disappointment, that it was not Jim that was calling.
"This�Dave Matthews�Jim��me to call you�he�" Crackle.
"Look, move back to where you were a moment ago, I'm losing you!" June urged.
"�K�" Silence for a moment. "Now?"
"Yes, that's much better. Who is this, where are you?"
"I'm Dave Matthews, I own the boat the "Underwater Love". Jim asked me to call you."
"Jim�where is he, is he alright?"
"It's a bit complicated, look, we saw the storm coming and we took shelter in a small cove near Torquay. We tried to moor the boat up but it got ripped from the moorings, god knows where it is now - it's probably at the bottom of the sea. A couple of us were hurt and we knew the coastguard wouldn't put out, so I managed to find a way up the cliff. That's where I am now."
"Right�but what about Jim�what's happening?"
"I've called the authorities, now they know where they are they're coming to get us. Jim, Steve and Ray are still down at the bottom of the cliff, in a small cave. The water isn't getting in there and the tide's going out, they should be OK but we're all soaked and freezing. Ray and Jim were hurt�" June clasped a hand to her mouth. "Jim slipped on the rocks, we reckon his arm is broken and he bumped his head."
"But how is he, in himself?"
Dave chuckled. "Same old Jim. He's stubborn as a mule. Won't let it get him down. Reckon he's a bit hypothermic though, so he - they all - need to get out of there as soon as possible."
"Right�well�thank you. Will you call me again, if there's any�"
"Course. Look, June, Jim asked me to tell you that he's sorry and he lo�"
"No�he can tell me himself when he gets home. Thank you again." She pressed the button to end the call. Brandon was at her shoulder, looking on expectantly. "He's alive. Brandon, he's alive." She turned around, and Brandon gathered her into his arms. "He's cold and a bit beaten up but he's alive, and they know where he is."
"And where's that?"
"In a cave."
"Ah-huh. I can just see Jim there." Brandon squeezed June tighter. "I'm so happy for you, Sarge. He's a great bloke, it was horrid to think we'd lost him."
"Yes. Yes it was." June couldn't stop herself from grinning. "Matt�I need to�" She picked up her desk phone and punched in a four digit extension. "Matt�Matt - he's alive�hurt but alive!" She listened for a moment. "You will�.thank you, thank you for everything." She replaced the receiver. "He's putting an all units call out to let everyone know."
Brandon nodded. "Jim is loved here, you know."
"I know."
"Mostly by you." Brandon smiled. "I bet you can't wait to get him back."
"I can't. I just want to tell him how much I love him, and then yell at him for putting me through this�" Her face crumpled and she sobbed. "I just need to speak to him�to see him."
"You will, Sarge. You will."
***
1:20pm
It was an hour - an extraordinarily long hour, before June's mobile trilled again. Buoyed by the earlier news, she smiled as she placed the phone to her ear.
"June Ackland."
"June? It's Dave." There was something - something in Dave's voice that made June suck in a breath and hold it.
"What's happening? Are they out?"
"Yeah. They're on their way to the hospital in Torquay." A slight pause, then the next words came in a rush. "Jim lost consciousness."
"What?" June's brown eyes widened.
"They can't say if it's down to the bang on the head or the cold. But he's not in a good way, June�I�look, if you can get down here�"
"Get down there? He's not�he is going to be alright, isn't he?"
"I wish I could say one way or another for sure, June. All I know is, I reckon it'd help him if you were down here with him."
"I�yes�of course�" June stammered. "It'll take me three or four hours�you call me�if there's any news�alright?"
"Of course I will. I love Jim too you know. He's a great mate."
June smiled slightly despite her fear. "Tell me something I don't know."
**
June retrieved her coat and bag from the CAD room, filling Matt in on the situation, and made to leave - just as Inspector Gina Gold was coming in through the door the other way. They collided ungracefully.
"Ma'am�I'm sorry�"
She had expected Gina to roll her eyes in disdain and come out with a barbed comment, so she was surprised when Gina grabbed her arm as she tried to squeeze past and inquired about Jim's well being with an expression of what appeared to be genuine concern.
"He's not good�they think he has hypothermia and a head injury. I'm�going down to Devon to be with him."
"Devon? That's a little above and beyond the call of duty isn't it?"
"Look, Ma'am�" June pulled her arm away from Gina's grasp. "I realise you don't know the history of my friendship with Jim, but we have known each other for twenty years and I will not abandon him when he needs someone."
"But surely he has friends down there with him�"
"He does." June walked a few paces away. Then she stopped, turned. "But no-one loves Jim like I do. I love him, Ma'am. Make what you like of it�make any snide comments you like�I simply don't care."
**
Torquay Hospital - 5:30pm
By the time June arrived at the hospital it was dark, but mercifully the storm had abated and her journey was illuminated by a bright full moon in the middle of a clear, starry sky.
She spent a frustrating ten minutes trying to park - Dave had told her visiting hours were between four and six and she supposed they must be at the peak of it. They had kept in contact during June's long journey down, Dave giving her guarded updates as to Jim's condition - the last she had heard he was still unconscious but efforts to restore his core temperature to normal were working. The head injury had proved to be superficial, just a nasty bump and a cut, he had been given a head x-ray and a CAT scan, neither of which had shown anything more ominous. His arm was broken in two places, but would be fine after a few weeks in a cast.
Not bothering with the directions signs, she hurriedly enquired of a nurse where the Accident and Emergency Department was, and moved quickly toward it. Illuminated under a security light was a tall man, around six feet four, blond haired, broad shouldered, wearing jeans and a sturdy red and blue waterproof jacket. He approached her. "June?"
"Yes�you must be Dave." She shook his outstretched hand. "Thank you, for all of this�"
"It's not a problem. Jim's one of my best mates. Come on�" He turned, and led her into the building. June regarded him as they moved into a bustling reception area. One of Jim's best mates? She hadn't even known his name until today�it suddenly struck her how much there was of Jim that she didn't know - and more importantly, how much there was of him she wanted - needed - to know, and was willing to spend the rest of her life finding out.
"They've got Jim in a little room on his own. He's got a few tubes and things in him, he's on a heart monitor but it's all just a precaution."
"Right." June felt her stomach climb to her throat. For the last six hours all she had thought about was seeing him, but now�could she face it?
"It's OK for you to go in, I've told the nurse you're coming."
"Right."
Dave could sense her fear and squeezed her hand reassuringly. "He's going to be fine. Come on, we both know Jim. He's been through worse. He's strong�he'll win."
Dave pushed open the door to the darkened room. To her right was a hospital bed, doused in fluorescent light. A nurse filled in a chart in the far corner, she looked up as June entered, nodded and gestured for June to approach the bed.
Finally, she allowed her eyes to rest on the man in the bed - the pale man, he looked white�blue even�his blond hair was a complete mess, and as she regarded it she noticed for the first time how grey he was becoming. His eyes were closed, his eyelids fluttering slightly, the bright light was accentuating the lines on his face, making him look older than his forty years.
A wave of regret overcame her. If only they'd come to the realisation sooner that what they had between them was more than just friendship. Jim had always been there for her, through relationship heartbreak, through disillusionment with her vocation, through colds and coughs when he would come over, bring her soup and tissues and company.
She'd been with other men through the past twenty years, but it was Jim who she had always turned to when she was in pain, Jim who she had always confided in. She had had intense physical relationships which had lacked the intimacy of friendship, she had had relationships with men who had treated her like a queen yet had lacked the physicality.
Why had she not realised before that with this beautiful man she could have both? She knew his friendship - since Viv Martella she had never had a better friend. But why had she never known that the touch of his hand could arouse her, why had she never known that the sex that they shared could be so intense, whether it was frantic, fevered and spontaneous, or slow, gentle and deliberate. How could it have been that she did not know that she could spend nights awake with him, alternating love making with joking, laughing, talking about things pointless, or things deep and serious�where sleep felt like a loss because she could no longer see him?
She knew now that what she had told Tony earlier that day in anger was true - it was a shock to her that love could feel like this. It scared her, it scared her to her very soul, that was why, she knew, she had been pushing him away. But that fear had been banished, ridiculed by her fear that she had lost him, and now seemed inconsequential. Her only fear now was that she could still mess this up, that she would still lose him, that she didn't deserve him and that he could, if he wanted, have so much better, someone younger, prettier, someone who could give him children�
But those fears could remain unspoken. Now all she had to concentrate on was salvaging what she could from the mess she had made. She stepped forward, and intertwined her fingers with his. His hands were bitterly cold to the touch, but hers were warm, until recently gloved, and she could feel the warmth transfer to his skin.
She glanced down to where their hands were hands were joined, and started. She was suddenly reminded of something she had heard in a film, where a woman was telling her daughter how she knew that her husband was "the one" - how she had looked down and had not been able to tell who's hand was who's - a sign. Magic.
She moved closer to him. She watched him sleep, placed a hand to his cold cheek, careful not to disturb any tubes or wires. "Just promise me this one thing, Jim Carver. Don't ever leave me. Don't ever die."
Tears again sprang to her cheeks but she was smiling, an odd mixture of emotions making her feel a little dizzy and confused, yet strangely certain about where all this was going to go. She had made a decision, one which would change both of their lives forever.
All she needed now was for Jim to wake up.
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TO BE CONTINUED
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