Fireman Sam SAM&PENNY ONE-SHOTS

Sleepless nights

Penny had fallen asleep an hour ago after Reilynn had been fed and put into her crib. Cinamon didn't venture out from under the armchair until Sam opened the door to the garden, which was greatly relieved. As the sun began to sink towards the horizon, Sam joined Cinamon outside, but quickly holed up in the shed. He wanted to find his old sleeping bag. And he found it, lying under a pile of boxes in which furniture from the children's room had been brought.

It must have been a long time because when he came back into the house the sun didn't come in through the same windows as when he left. He let Cinamon in before closing the door behind him and as quietly as he could climb the stairs. Both the bedroom door and Reilynn's door were ajar. Apparently in case Reilynn woke up. Sam headed to the far room, giving his wife a little more time before he had to wake her up so she could sleep through the night. He wouldn't risk Penny being kept awake at night because she'd recharged a temporary battery during a long afternoon's nap.

He slid through the hole created by the ajar door in the aisle and froze, tucking the sleeping bag in a deft motion behind the wooden cover provided by the door. How could he had been so stupid not to check if Penny was still asleep? 

However, the momentary surprise did not prevent him from enjoying the view he found. Penny was sitting in the armchair with her head leaning back and looking down at Reilynn. A little girl wrapped in a blanket was rocked by her mother and you can see that both are enjoying the moment. Even though their daughter was less than two weeks old, it was already obvious that the bond between her and Penny was extremely strong.

Sam stepped back. As much as he would love to be a part of this moment, he knew, from the advice of his father and Charlie, that it was not worth rushing things, at some point he would have his individual moments too, and the trick was knowing when that mysterious moment was coming, where the father should keep to the side and let the mother be the center of attention. Especially when it comes to daughters.

Sam had just come down the stairs and had time to hide the sleeping bag in the first place his eyes saw - the empty space between the cushions on the couch. He covered the navy blue sack with a pillow just as Penny's feet slid off the last step.

"Better?" Sam asked as Penny walked into the living room, her loose hair swaying with every step. Three months ago she trimmed them hard, but they've grown back. Sam brushed Penny's hair as soon as she got close enough.

"A little." Penny shrugged. "Reilynn woke me up. I called you, where were you?" she asked, lifting her head from his chest.

"I went out with Cinamon in the garden," Sam lied.

"Where is he now?"

"Probably under the armchair." Sam pointed to a white muzzle that poked out from under the blanket.

Sam and Penny sat on the couch and started talking, enjoying the many amazing challenges ahead of them, and before they knew it, the moon was shining high in the sky.

The next two days passed slowly and similarly. Their friends came to meet Pontypandy's newest resident.

However, after another peaceful night's sleep, Penny had a feeling something was wrong. At the hospital, Reilynn was at almost regular intervals. And now she sleeps through the night? In addition, she felt a strange loneliness in her sleep.

When she rocked Reilynn to sleep the next evening, she was glad to have Sam sitting on the floor next to her, his head resting on her knee. After five lullabies, Reilynn closed her blue eyes, letting go of Penny's hoodie, which she gripped in her little fist. Still rocking, Penny followed Sam and stood up. She walked over to the bed and placed Rei inside the crib. Sam patted Reilynn on the head before they both left, closing the door very quietly behind them.

"Something bothering you?" Sam asked worriedly as he saw Penny, completely lost in thought, sitting on the edge of the bed. Sam stretched out on the bed and in one motion pulled Penny from behind her. The look of surprise on her face quickly changed to a smile as Sam kissed the back of her neck.

"It worries me that Reilynn suddenly stopped crying at night. When we were in the hospital, she cried every few hours," Penny confessed, pulling her knees up to her chin.

"I'm sure she's fine" Sam struggled to extricate himself from the trouble he might be in when his plan came to light. "Maybe she likes her new crib so much that she feels safe here."

"I used to sleep right next to her, and now I feel empty inside every night," Penny didn't seem convinced.

"Get some rest, you're stressing too much," Sam argued, stroking her collarbone gently to help her relax. He got up and covered Penny with the covers, then Sam jumped under it from the other side. He extended his arm, which Penny gladly accepted, pressing her cheek against it. Less than ten minutes had passed and she drifted off to dreamland in Sam's arms. "Goodnight, sweetheart," Sam wished her, kissing the top of her head.

Their daughter must have inherited her deep and restful sleep from her mother, thought Sam as he slid out from under the covers after waiting another ten minutes. He was reluctant to leave Penny, but then he had no choice if he wanted her to gain her strength back quickly. He grabbed his pillow and, walking with one hand against the wall as if in a burning building, he slipped into the next room, only to slip inside his sleeping bag and close his eyes but not his ears.

He had been asleep for maybe three hours when he was awakened by crying. By the time it could reach Penny's ears, Sam was already on his feet. He leaned over the crib and did what he did every night before. He lifted the corner of the quilt, took Reilynn in his arms, and began to rock her, facing the window. Darkness and rocking worked quickly and effectively. Rei fell asleep after about fifteen minutes, lying in her crib under the watchful eye of her proud dad.

Suddenly a light blinded him, and before his eyes could adjust, Reilynn started crying again. Now Sam saw a silhouette leaning on the doorframe.

"So that's it." Penny moved closer to him, placing her hands on her hips.

"What betrayed me?" Sam asked resignedly, leaning over Reilynn again.

"No pillow" Penny giggled, also resting her hands on the crib rail. The self-sacrifice Sam had given for her ever since she got home from the hospital had made her want to cry. Sam was sleeping on the floor, without a mattress, with only a sleeping bag and a pillow, only to get up and immediately calm Rei so that Penny could get some sleep. "I really appreciate what you did, Sam. You are the best man I could ever dream of," she kissed him so passionately that it took his breath away for a moment, before he deepened the kiss, closing his eyes with pleasure. "But if you want to continue this, you'd better get a mattress from the basement and hide it behind the door for the day," she teased him as their lips parted. Their shadows fell over the head of little Reilynn, who began to calm down.

"I feel bad for worrying you unnecessarily," Sam apologized as he turned off the light in Reilynn's room and Penny's face was so close that even in the dim light he recognized the sparkle of love in her eyes. "I should have confessed what I plan."

"You meant well for Reilynn and me," Penny comforted him as she lay down next to him. "I know I have no reason to worry when you're next to me" she hugged him tight before they lost themselves in another kiss. "I love you, darling" she whispered aginst his lips.

"I love you too, sweetheart" Sam replied softly before they heard crying coming from behind the wall. "Should I go back to the station?" Sam asked and was already grabbing the edge of the quilt, but Penny stopped him by grabbing his wrist.

"My turn," she whispered, kissing Sam one last time before breaking free from his embrace and going to show her baby girl that she had a mom too.

Hello everyone! I hope you have pleasure reading this chapter. Originally it was supposted to be one one-shot together with the last one, but after writing it down I decided it is too much going on inside of them to put them together. I don't know if I repeat this situation (from one-shot's plot) in the future, but at least at the beginning it fits.