Fireman Sam SAM&PENNY ONE-SHOTS

Christmas with anticipation

The snow was softly falling behind the window when Sam was carefully packing the last meal to a termal packaging. 

"You think it was a wise idea when we agreed to take that invitation?" Sam asked turning around as if he felt that his wife had entered the room. 

"Which invitation?" She asked him confused.  "We got so many this year" she added amused, stealing one of the last pieces of cakes from the plate right under Sam's nose. 

"From my uncle" Sam replied annoying. 

"Why are you so stressed all of instant? When he called you agreed with a smile" she reminded him, gently elbowing him at the same time. 

"Because I didn't think at that time that he really meant what he had said" Sam explained grumpily. "I bet he would have postpones or something like that" he ran his hand through his hair in anger for his own stupidity. 

"I don't understand, all this time it seemed like you and your uncle have a good relations" Penny stated puzzled. 

"Because we have, but not on Christmas and not in his house for sure" Sam muttered. 

"Why?" Penny simply repeated her recent question, taking a seat on the couch to prepare somthing to eat for Cinamon for a time he had to stay alone tonight. 

"Because he whines and talks things that nobody normal should probably bother their minds about. Once he swore he saw a ghoust" Sam whispered behind his hand. "No wonder Carla leaves him at Christmas alone then". 

"And that's because he's alone this year too, you accepted his invitation" Penny noticed. "Besides could it be worse comparing to my parents' visit?" 

"That was strange, I agree, but you haven't known uncle George from that side" Sam was still visibly fighting with himself to go. 

"Sam" Penny stood up and took his hands in hers to calm him down and forced him to stop pacing around in a circle. "No one should spent Christmas alone. Except that we have everything already prepared and you also yourself denied inviting uncle George to Pontypandy for a meeting with your parents". 

"There comes a second problem. They're also be there tonight" Sam sighed, lowering his shoulders. "I don't know if you're really prepared for that memories and whining, my dad mostly walkes to the garden every single time and my mother, well... she just ignores these stories" Sam draw how it used to look like. "Even me and Charlie knows uncle George's story by heart, you will hear it for a first time and, belive me, it is not a Christmas tale". 

"Sam, I overheard how you talked with Charlie about which one of you turn it is this year to spend Christmas with uncle George" she confesed. "And I answered your question well knowing what I'm stepping in". 

"No, you're not" Sam denied. 

"Sam, what can go wrong? A listening ear sometimes is enough and in the case we can try to make your uncle happy with our secret" she whispered, letting go of Sam's hand to laid hers on her stomach. 

"You're the best, you know that?" He smiled encouragingly.

"You keep reminding me of that often enough to make it hard to forget" she gave him a kiss on the cheek.  

"I'd live to do it still if you don't change your mind after today" Sam wished. 

"What do you mean?" Penny asked him surprised. 

"A story about aunt ..." he said as if it would explained everything. But when he ended telling the story, Penny was totally speechless. The accident with fire and the Christmas tree falling on uncle George's wife was the cruelest thing that could happened to someone, especially on the day before Christmas Day. "That's why all this whining from uncle George is about. He thinks it was his fault when it wasn't his fault. He just can't let it get to his head. Every year it is the same story, my dad tries to explain it to him, but he doesn't listen. Then through the entire year he doesn't want to talk about aunt like it didn't happen at all" he continued his explanation. "But this year it is particullary difficult, it is ten years since that accident".

"Now I better see" Penny replied briefly before she closed the door after them. "But I don't see why we then should stop to make it easier for him" she shrugged her shoulders, before she put the present to the back seat of the car. 

"Have I told you you will make an amazing mother?" He asked with that proud sparkle in his eyes again. 

"Better question is: had it been a single day when you haven't told me so?" Penny replied teasingly. 

The road was surprisingly passing really fast and after an hour, they saw the small streets of one of Cardiff's allotment estates. Sam parked the car in front of the gate, next to his father's green car. 

"You really think it is a good idea?" Sam asked Penny hesitantly as they stood behind the door. 

"Ring, don't talk" Penny elbowed him gently to encourage him to finally pressed the buttom of the doorbell. 

"Welcome, welcome, you two, come in" Sam's uncle asked them in. 

And to Sam's biggest astonishment, it wasn't anything like for nine last years. It was a nice beginning of Christmas and Sam knew Penny would tease him for a while that he was such a coward today.

 Hello everyone! This chapter is really bad, and I'm deeply sorry about it, but I wanted to end this christmas with a chapter that is not so obvious. So I hope that you had the merriest of christmas and that this chapter has something to do with Christmas except of title