Fireman Sam SAM&PENNY ONE-SHOTS

Jerry Lee

Hello everyone! It is a chapter that will put these one-shots in totally different direction. I hope you will like it anyway. You will see Gabriela here, so my thanks to @TigerLeprechaun who helped me once again developed her character. 

I hope you will like it and you won't die from anxiousness at the end. The next part will be oit soon;)

It was slowly the beginning of a good spring and the winter seemed to slowly stepping away. Sam enjoyed fresh, however still cold, breeze when he walked to Pontypandy Fire Station for his morning shift. Last month he managed to convince Steele to put him mostly on day shifts, so he barely saw a stars at night at this season this year. 

He walked to hall through the back door to quietly sneak around to his locker and walked upstairs without being noticed. He didn't want any nosy questions at this early hour. But he couldn't stay away from trouble, even if he hid in the store room and spent the rest of his shift alone in these four walls. But lately he'd had enough of loneliness, so he pulled himself together and went inside the common room to see it was empty. 

He was walking as carefully to the kitchen to turn the kettle on, when he heard two hushed voices coming from the direction of common room. He quickly recognized it was Ellie and Arnold . Either they planned something or they were just talking about something he shouldn't have heard about. With Ellie it could be both of the reasons, but Arnold rarely took an active part in her plans, so it was rather harmless, Sam thought. 

"Hi, Sam" Arnold waved as he went past by him and reached for three cups from the cupboard. When they ended, they sat at the kitchen table to to keep Ellie company while she was flipping through the paper. 

"Shouldn't you be at training today?" Sam asked, turning to Ellie, after taking a sip of his tea. 

"Today is a lot of time" she replied casually. "On the other hand, shouldn't you be with Penny instead?" She couldn't help but added with teasing tone, and when she saw Sam's offended expression, she knew she had hit a sore spot. 

For another hour, Sam didn't say a word to Ellie. He told Arnold what was in duty schedule planned for them, before he disappeared in Station Officer Steele's office, even if he would prefer a store room. 

By the time he got back to the hall, Ellie already went to the Ocean Rescue Centre, and Arnold washed Jupiter with a help of Jerry Lee, who gladly accepted Station Officer Steele's offer to take on some of the shift work for replacement of Penny. 

"Are you still considering moving here permanently?" Sam, hearing Arnold's question, gladly joined them.

"I've applied for a transfer, but haven't gotten a response yet," Elvis's cousin began. "Besides, I need to get a positive opinion from the team leaders, and I have a feeling it won't be that easy," he sighed, apparently not paying attention to the fact that one of them was standing right next to him, listening carefully while scrubbing Jupiter's door.

"Sam?" Arnold asked in surprise. "No, don't worry about him, he's upset not because of you," Arnold waved his hand dismissively.

"I was stunned when that scene fell into the sea, Arnold. It's not something that can be explained away." Jerry Lee unknowingly bent down to wet a sponge and jumped when he saw Sam standing with his hands crossed on his chest and a pitying smile on his lips.

"You're right, Pontypandy is one thing not to get used to," Sam joked, but quickly changed his tone to a more serious one. "That's why we need the best of the best here. You fit in here," he added, placing a hand on the firefighter's shoulder.

"I... don't know what to say," Jerry Lee stammered. Such praise from one of arguably the best firefighters in all Wales was not what he expected.

"Sorry for being a bit over the top lately, but Steele tries to block my every request for a new shift," he thought on the spot. It was only partly true. In fact, he was worried about Penny and would love to keep an eye on her day and night, but lately his overprotective and overprotective the concern was driving her crazy. But he wouldn't even say that aloud to Steele. "As for consent to your transfer, as soon as I get my hands on the form, I'll sign it up right away and personally put it on Chief Fire Officer Boyce's desk. And I'm sure Penny and Station Officer Steele will agree too."

"I wouldn't be so sure after the last time he thought I was Elvis and Elvis was me"

"All you have to do is bake something from time to time and you'll quickly find a way to deal with him," Arnold consoled Jerry Lee as the three of them climbed the stairs.

They were surprised to find someone there. Station Officer Steele sat at the kitchen table with his back to them, talking to a woman with auburn hair and a slightly darker complexion. Something in her face rang a bell, but they couldn't remember themselves who could it be. The shame was that two people who knew her were absent at the peculiar moment.  

But when the three men came closer the stranger smiled friendly. 

"Good morning" she greeted them. "I don't know if any one of you remember me, but you saved my life in the car accident at the summer last year" she explained. "I'm Gabriela". 

"Help yourselves. They're delicious," Station Officer Steele encouraged them, reaching for another cookie. "They're even better than your pastries, Cridlington," he added jokingly, making the young fireman's face embarrassing. "Take care of the visitor. I have a few things to do downstairs."

"I didn't bake them myself, don't worry" she corrected their chief. "I wanted to thank you all, but everything I've ever baked ends in trash can immediately" she joked and they all couldn't helped but laughed. "I'm a writer, not a baker". 

"How are you?" Arnold asked casually, but something in his undertone told Sam that he did it out of upbringing, that it was the right thing to do, and not out of his own will.

"I'm still in rehab, but I'm walking and that's the most important thing" Gabriela replied. "Besides, Ellie told me a bit about your town and I decided that I had never heard such unusual stories in my entire life. And..."

"No, no, no," Sam interrupted her, rolling his eyes in annoyence. "You told you were a writer and you are intrigued with stories from Pontypandy. That only lead us to one point. Don't tell me you want to write a book?" He sent her a begging gaze not to say so, but she nodded her head in agreement. 

"Actually, that's what I want to do. The world deserves to hear about brave firefighters from Pontypandy" she tried to stand her ground, as much as Ellie would have at her place, but Sam was stubborn as well. 

"Not a book, no, not again. It didn't work last time and I'm sure it won't be better this time. The last one wasn't even sold out" he muttered grumpily. 

"There was a book?" Arnold asked confused, turning to his team leader only to see Station Officer Steele also standing behind Sam at the moment.

"Sam, can we talk in private?" Station Officer Steele asked, leaning in so as not to arouse the interest of either those present or Ellie, who had just returned from training to find Gabriela in the common room.

"At that peculiar moment, sir?" Sam complained, getting up. "I try to force here not to be put on the cover of the book". 

"I'm well aware how much you dislike it, Sam, but I supost it can wait" he objected firmly, walking away from other firefighters. "Helen has just called. It's about Penny" Station Officer Steele whispered quietly, but the silence around help everyone else heard it too. But only Sam felt how every muscle in his body tensed to the limit with uncertainty as he ran to the pole, passed Ellie without a word, and slid down to the garage without thinking about it.