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Author's Chapter Notes:
Jim and Pam take the boat to Taronga Zoo.

The next half hour was hazy in Jim’s memory, because it was all done at absolute full speed. They rushed back to the hostel, where they looked up the phone number of the Taronga Zoo, dialed, and Pam talked to what sounded like a very nice man over the phone. Then they hurtled back towards the wharves at Circular Quay, which he had only vaguely noted previously, but which now took on a profoundly increased importance as they waited for the every half-hour ferry to Taronga across the way. It was conveniently labeled; the route to the zoo was apparently a popular one. To their left the massive Sydney Harbour Bridge lofted into the sky; somewhere to their right the Sydney Harbour Tunnel was boring into the earth; unsurprisingly, in front of them Sydney Harbour stretched out blue and waiting.

 

It could not have been more different than that night on Lake Wallenpaupack when he’d gone onboard the Princess with Katy and come off of it single—or when he’d stared down Pam Beesly for twenty-seven interminable seconds. It was winter then; he supposed it was winter now, by virtue of the change in hemispheres. But it was not winter in his soul, and Sydney appeared to agree. It was a nice day.

 

He and Pam boarded the Golden Grove and made their way as best they could, not to the bow or the stern, but to the side. He supposed for other tourists this might have been an attempt to see the bridge better, or to view the Opera House once they rounded the peninsula (was it right to give such a grandiose name to a small point?) on which it stood.

 

But for Jim and Pam it was a chance at a do over—or at least it was for him, and the fact that Pam followed him without a word suggested she too knew what she was doing. They settled in against the railing and waited for the ship to get underway, their silence now a much more positive echo of their silence then. Then they had been frozen solid physically and emotionally, separated by a few feet and a lake’s worth of emotional misunderstanding. Now they leaned against each other, his arm around her shoulder, and contemplated the water.

 

The hum of the engines turned into more of a roar and they were off. They were, he realized, on the side of the boat that would face the opera house, not the bridge, and so they were looked at the reverse side of the view they had had from the place they’d eaten their first meal together on that mad, amazing, brilliant day they’d found each other halfway around the globe from home. He pointed out to her what he thought was the restaurant, and they peered at it until distracted from it by the sight of the Sydney Opera House itself rising around the promontory.

 

**

 

Pam had never enjoyed boats. She didn’t get seasick, exactly, but beyond sitting on one stationary as could be and doing what her father had called “fishing” and she’d called “hangout time,” she didn’t really see the point. The Booze Cruise in January had just clinched it for her. Nothing good could come of setting foot on a boat.

 

Except, apparently, a perfectly lovely time with Jim, if one allowed oneself to have it. If, instead of drunken revelry and an engagement date one hadn’t actually thought through, there was companionship and comfort. If, instead of saying you were cold, one just nestled into his chest and relaxed. It was delightful.

 

But it was also not why she had decided to subtly push Jim in the direction of the boat.

 

No, she didn’t plan on a passive, calm revisitation of that day in January. She had a much more active intent. Even if she was going to let herself luxuriate in the passive version just a little longer.

 

They watched the Opera House as it appeared around the cape, and if she hadn’t seen it from the other side, she would have believed this was the most beautiful way to see it. The scoops and lines of the Opera House, thrust against the Botanical Gardens in the background, took on a new nature that thrilled her soul, and she could feel rather than hear Jim gasp behind her as he too caught sight of it. It was a pleasure to know he was not insensible to the details of the world that she so relished; she had spent years convinced that men just didn’t have the inner emotional life that women did, because Roy seemed unwilling to engage with beauty outside of the human physique and art beyond advertisements. But of course that was false; and it wasn’t just Jim, she was sure, who could prove that to her. But she wanted it to be him, and she was so happy that it was.

 

As the boat started to turn away from the Opera House as well, she realized that she might not have as much time left in the journey as she’d expected, and she started to put her plan into practice.

 

“Jim?”

 

“Yes?”

 

“I’m cold.” She couldn’t resist, and from the slight stiffening before he relaxed again she was sure he noticed as well.

 

“Really?” His voice was slightly hoarse.

 

“Mhm.” She turned so she was looking right up at him, only to find him already looking down at her and become caught for a moment by the intensity of his gaze. “Would you mind…warming me up?”

 

“That’s what you’re going with?” He grinned down at her. “After four months?”

 

“To be fair, I only really started thinking about it…OK, four months ago.” She wasn’t going to lie to him. “I only started thinking about it every day like a month ago.”

 

“And what, pray tell, made you change your mind?” He was staring her down, which should have felt intimidating—it would have with Roy for sure—but instead just felt electric.

 

“Oh, I don’t know. Something minor, I’m sure.” She cocked an eyebrow in challenge.

 

“Minor, was it?” His tone was light, but with a hint of gravel underneath it.

 

“Well, I’m certainly hoping it wasn’t the best I’ll ever have.” She tugged lightly at his coat. “After all, we have all the time in the world to get it right.”

 

“Best kiss of my life and she says I need to get it right,” he grumbled as his lips closed over hers.

 

A lot more than twenty-seven seconds later, they parted for breath.

 

“Second-best kiss of my life,” he amended, and kissed her again.

Chapter End Notes:
Koalas up next! Thank you to everyone who read, reviewed, and suggested they should go on the boat!

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