Synopsis
James Fairfax coached Kitty Higham, the most successful British swimmer ever, to 7 Olympic medals. Her retirement after Paris 2024, leaves him with no goals, an empty calendar, and aching knees.
Anthony Havers had a bright future ahead of him in the British Army until an explosion in Afghanistan changed everything. After years of surgeries and retraining as a counsellor, he’s built a life helping others. But he can’t ignore the pull of the water, or the sense that time is running out to chase a childhood dream.
When Anthony seeks out James as a coach, both men find more than they expected. For James, despite having never worked with a para-athlete, it's an opportunity he's powerless to resist. For Anthony, it could be a chance to fulfil more than one dream.
Together they’ll discover that medals aren’t the only thing at stake. Sometimes the biggest challenge is daring to believe in a future — one they could share.
James doesn’t receive a lot of enquiries via the form on his website. Local people usually get referred via word of mouth. Sometimes these things are spam bots, but this doesn’t sound that way. It looks like the sender has a sensible email address and writes like a human being, not a deranged robot with a penchant for strangely formatted links.
He sits up a little straighter and reads this email through for a second time. He knows Katherine’s a superstar, everyone does, but it’s still flattering to be recognised as a small contributor to her success. And it was a lot of success - what if this Havers is expecting some miracle worker?
The third time he reads it, he does so out loud to himself, under his breath, as he tries to analyse the tone. Ridiculous behaviour, he thinks. This is a potential client, not some enemy code. He stumbles over the phrase “openness about who you are” and panics slightly; am I being too open? Is this how I end up in the Daily Mail?
He shuts the laptop and puts the kettle on.
Is Havers only reaching out because of the Army thing? It sounds like he’s seen real action, if he was discharged on medical grounds and is considering para-swimming. What if he’s expecting me to be… Rambo? Good lord, I’ve got the knees of a retired vicar.
He’s a little intimidated, if he’s honest. He reminds himself that he’s the one who put “Army veteran" on his website; he’s got no one to blame but himself.
James tries to pretend he's not going to Google this man. That's all down the drain within about 15 minutes.
There seems to be a couple of Anthony Havers competing for Search Engine dominance, but one of them is in his 60s, competing in local vegetable growing competitions, so James thinks it's probably safe to rule him out.
The other one first appears in a short write up in a local newspaper whose website has far too many advertisements on it to make it legible. It's supposed to be about wounded soldiers coming home, not that anyone would realise that. James huffs in frustration and goes back to the search results.
Another story on a less annoying local news website mentions Anthony Havers playing in a charity Cricket match last summer to raise funds for veterans. There's a picture but no caption to help him identify which man is Havers. There's a quote from him though, he talks about keeping active and giving back. Nothing particularly revealing. That's just what people say, isn't it? Still, he enjoys cricket, that's something they could talk about at least.
There are some old swimming records from what must be his mid to late teens, before the Army certainly. Havers was doing well at the regional level. He notes down the best times he finds and spins his pen thoughtfully through his fingers. Might even have been promising enough for James to single him out like he had done with Kitty.
Then there's a photo from a veterans breakfast meeting about 18 months ago. It's been posted on Facebook of all places.
James doesn't have a Facebook account but the picture is visible to him. He wonders if that was intentional or not, seems a bit lax. There's a list of who is in the photo but it seems to be in alphabetical order, so he still isn't sure which of these officers is Havers. He’s moving his mouse in order to click away when he realises the names pop up when he hovers over the faces.
He checks the scariest looking one first and let's go of a breath he hadn't realised he was holding. It turns out Anthony Havers is standing in the back row and he doesn't look scary at all, he might even look shy, but he's smiling brightly. He has broad shoulders and an easy, soft eyed look. There's some scarring visible on his face but he looks so alive.
James almost shuts his laptop again. His heart has picked up its pace.
“Good Lord, he's handsome!” Slips out of him on the whisper of air left in his lungs.
This isn't good. This isn't professional. Whatever happened to boundaries?
He realises he can click on the little “Anthony Havers” label that pops up whenever he moves his mouse over Havers’ face. In for a penny?
He clicks. Then immediately moves the mouse to the X at the top right of the window. This is silly, he should stop, go and sort out a load of laundry and schedule it to come on in the night to make the most of his Economy 7 tariff.
I really want to put some of this out into the world. It's running at about 30k words, despite not having anything in a publishable state yet.
Fandom: BBC Ghosts 👻 (Modern AU, no one is a ghost)
Ship: Capvers
Rating: E
Working title: Between The Lines
#WIPWednesday #fanfiction #bbcghosts #capvers
