Better on our own - English

Strange Rescue

"Since when have you been so strict about the rules?" Penny remarked and I couldn't help but feel there was something teasing in her voice.

"Since I have to save you?!"

"Sam, a rope would be enough!" Ah, there was an annoyed undertone again and, strangely enough, it calmed me down more than when the two of them were teasing each other. That made me kind of nervous because I didn't know anything it on them.

"Forget it! You are here privately and then you will be saved like everyone else!" he stated seriously. He was almost his old curmudgeon again.

"Are you having fun or do you just want to show off your new equipment?" Penny replied annoyed, but there was definitely the teasing tone again. What was actually going on down there? That went far beyond the point of calming or distracting the victim, right?

"Oh, you noticed?!" I didn't need to see it to know that Mr. Jones was grinning and feigning surprise as he slid down the last meter and arrived at the bottom of the crack next to Penny. "Do you like it?"

"It's fine. I can still save anyone today with a simple harness and a rope." That sounded less indifferent and more like a little taunt.

"But this makes it a lot easier for us because the injured people can no longer move and therefore don't do anything stupid," he stated as he unfastened a harness from the back of his belt that he had taken down with him and kept it in front of her.

"Afraid I'm going to panic?" she remarked, and I could tell she was amused. God, the two of them looked like a match!

"Who knows. After all, I'm the one getting you out of here." Or not! This remark was again typical of the Mr. Jones I knew around her.

"That takes the horror out of it quite a bit. It would definitely be different with Ellie." But that definitely wasn't the Penny I knew around him! What the...

"Hey!" Ellie snapped me out of my thoughts with an offended shout down into the crack.

"Are they arguing again?" Cody asked me and I looked up at him, only to see that he was pretty confused - good thing it wasn't just me.

"Um, no Cody. That's different," I replied hesitantly, not sure how to explain this to him.

"It sounds a bit like it," he continued.

"Um, yeah, maybe, but..." I started when Ellie interrupted me.

"We'll explain it to you when you're a bit older," she said simply and I saw that she was grinning again as she led the rope through the pulleys and lowered it into the crevice.

"Holy crap, it's really tight in here," Mr. Jones complained now and I looked over the edge again, only to see him awkwardly trying to get closer to Penny.

"Have you gained weight?" she teased him again and he looked up at her with a smile. His eyes sparkled conspiratorially. "But you were already too heavy for the bridge back then," she then stated with a feigned indifference that was more than transparent when his look became thoughtful. He raised his hand to cup her chin and I saw Penny's lips part, as if she had gasped in shock at his touch. He didn't answer her as he turned her face a little so he could get a better look at her cheek, but I suspected that Penny must have hurt herself there - if only because he next dug a cloth out of his pocket and put it softly at her cheek. She wordlessly put her hand on the cloth so that his hands were free again, but I noticed how she faltered when their fingers touched before he pulled his hand away. It had only been seconds, but they seemed to have been in a completely different world for a moment before they found themselves back in the here and now.

"The bridge collapsed because of the wave and I got you out through the tunnel with Mandy, don't forget that," Mr. Jones took up the topic again and I knew, thanks to Penny's tutoring, that he spoke with the last one about saving Mandy.