A good 40 minutes passed, during which the cold slowly crept into my bones and I rubbed Cody's arms almost constantly while I held him so that he wouldn't get cold. How was Penny doing down there?
I jumped when I heard voices and footsteps somewhere in the distance.
"I hear someone. There are footsteps and voices," I called to Penny and Cody immediately jumped up and looked in the direction we had come from. There was no light to be seen in the hallway.
"Very good. Make yourself known," Penny called up to us.
"Help!" I immediately shouted loudly. "Here we are!" I repeated this three more times when I heard someone shouting and recognized Mr. Jones's voice.
"Dad! Here we are!" Cody shouted and took a few steps towards him before I could stop him, but then he stopped, as if he suddenly remembered what his mother had told him earlier .
"Cody! Are you okay?" Mr. Jones immediately asked concerned as he and Ellie rounded the corner and he fell to his knees in front of his son to put his hands on his shoulders. "Where is your Mum?"
"I'm down here, Sam," Penny called to him from below before Cody could answer and Ellie moved closer to the crack and shined a handheld spotlight into it.
"I saw something glittering and ran forward. Mum slipped in there because she had to stop me," Cody said sheepishly and I saw Mr. Jones' eyes soften.
"I'll get her out of there, don't worry, big boy!" he said gently to him before he gave me a look and I pulled Cody back to me so Mr. Jones could step to the edge of the crevice. "Are you okay?" he called down to Penny.
"Just a little cold and my ankle seems to be sprained so I can't get out of here on my own."
"I'm coming down," he stated immediately, grabbing the rope he had just dropped to look at Cody.
"Let me go, Sam. I'm narrower than you," Ellie noted as he secured his rope to the ground with an anchor.
"I'm going, Ellie! You set up the pulley!" he replied and Ellie rolled her eyes but grinned before turning to the bag she had brought with her. "I'm coming down now, Penny," called Mr. Jones and went down to her after positioning himself a short distance away from where she was stuck beneath us.
"You should really let Ellie go first. The gap has become narrower since the last time with Mandy," she replied skeptically, but he was already going.
"The mountain is always moving, so it wouldn't be surprising," he remarked on his way down and I leaned over the crevice again to give them a little more light with my flashlight. "There is, of course, another possibility why it seems to you as if..." he began and in the weak light of my flashlight I saw a smile at the corner of his mouth, which really surprised me in a situation like this, when Penny interrupted him.
"Watch your tongue, my friend! I don't have an ounce more on my hips than I did back then!" she reprimanded him and raised her head a little when a few smaller stones that Mr. Jones had loosened during the descent fell down next to her. "What are you actually doing? Just throw me a rope!" she then objected skeptically as Ellie came over to me and handed me the much more powerful hand lamp before she went back to the pulley, with a grin and a wink, that looked like a three-legged grill frame, which she now also began to secure with anchors. I put my lamp away and gave Mr. Jones and Penny more light with the hand lamp.
"That's not up to the rules Penny and you know it," Mr. Jones was just saying and was only two meters above her when I noticed that the gap was making it increasingly difficult for him to push off the wall because it became increasingly narrower at the bottom.
"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.
"Unfortunately it was buried again by a falling rocks," Penny replied and nodded in his direction, which caused him to look the other way. I shined a light on the gap further back and also saw that there must have been a passage there once, but it was now blocked by rubble. "While we're on the subject of falling rocks..." Penny then remarked and pointed with a nod of her head to her other side. Only then did I see that there was a narrow boulder hanging diagonally above her in the crevice, which looked anything but safe, but rather as if it could start moving at any time and slide in her direction. Damn! Why didn't she say something about that before?
"Then we should make sure to get you out of here as soon as possible. Put this on!" he replied thoughtfully and wrapped the harness over her arm before undoing the buckles in three more places on it. She stumbled a little trying to move it behind her back because the gap was just too narrow where she was standing. Mr. Jones immediately reached for it. "Wait, I'll help you," he murmured and led his hand with the harness behind her before he pulled it away again and as far as he could, began to tighten the straps around her legs and the other arm and close the buckles again. His face often came within centimeters of hers. While Penny seemed frozen, Mr. Jones felt the same way every now and then when their eyes met. I looked over at Ellie, who was grinning down at them, seemingly more than content watching the scene below.
"My God, Sam. This harness doesn't allow any movement at all," Penny sighed as I heard the last two buckles click into place.
"This is just to be safe, sweetheart." Huh?! Now she would surely rip his head off.
"Mine or yours?!" That teasing tone again. The two of them were slowly starting to scare me. "I could still bite," she murmured as Mr. Jones pulled her over to him, where the gap was at least wide enough for them to stand in front of each other, if only just and Mr. Jones froze instantly when she said that and their eyes met.
"You can try. But I'm just not sure you can handle the echo," he told her quietly, but his voice was deadly serious. Did he just threaten her? "Especially since there are cozier places for it than in a cold, damp crevice in the rock," he then replied with a grin - I could see it when he lifted his head to reach for the rope above him and attached it on Penny's harness. Even though he had spoken quietly, I had covered Cody's ears with both hands in shock for a moment until the boy pushed them away again. Did the boy now understand what the two were talking about? "Then let's get you out of here. Ready?" Mr. Jones then asked her and she just nodded before he called to Ellie to pull. I immediately turned off the hand lamp and went over to help her. "It brings back memories, doesn't it?" Mr. Jones stated and I couldn't help wondering if he was trying to distract her or just overplaying the moment of proximity that they probably found unpleasant by now, even though they otherwise avoided each other.
"In my memory, I saved others and wasn't at the mercy of an overzealous firefighter," she continued to tease, I could undeniably hear it in her voice.
"In mine too, but there were two or three moments," he purred teasingly as he climbed up with her, always staying at her height in order to keep an eye on the harness with an integrated mid-height stretcher that served to stabilize her back "I remember rescuing a beautiful woman in distress whose rope got tangled while climbing on a cliff or whose foot got caught in seaweed while diving." I still didn't understand if he was just trying to reassure her or if he was actually flirting, and I still didn't understand why the two of them did that when they didn't have much to say to each other otherwise."Oh and let's not forget when she did overzealously went out to sea for a rescue and had to be rescued herself because she was sick and should have been lay in bed."It's good that the shining knight was always there to save her," he then stated and I heard a certain satisfaction in his voice.
"Do you mean the shining knight who was once stuck on a burning island? Or the one who disappeared into a sinkhole and needed rescue himself?" she replied teasingly. "And don't forget the one who crashed in the cave. You would have thought he was wearing armor for real, as heavy as he was," she continued, trying in vain to sound bored.
"Muscles are heavier than fat, you should know that. Feel free to convince yourself of that," he simply stated, but the last thing with an undertone in his voice, as if he was making an immoral offer to her. Well, I certainly didn't want to be there if she actually wants to found out about it. Ellie's broad grin, on the other hand, did not indicate disinterest. She had a lot of fun with this scene. Had this happened before? But I really couldn't imagine that Penny or Mr. Jones had frequent accidents that required the other to rescue them.
"Thank you, I believe you," she simply replied and this time I couldn't tell what emotion was in her voice. "Either that or you've always had more luck than sense, considering the many explosions you've survived unharmed," she then added and sounded rather thoughtful. The good mood suddenly noticeably diminished.
"Except for the one when you exploded. That caused more irreparable damage than all the others put together could have done, even though it's not visible to the outside world," he answered her quietly and his voice didn't sound accusatory - rather sad.
Penny didn't reply and the next moment I saw her helmet and Mr. Jones's too. Ellie immediately secured the rope to the pulley before running over and grabbing Penny to pull her the last bit over the edge. She immediately began to free her friend from the harness while I reached out to Mr. Jones to pull him up out of the crevice towards us.
"Mum!" Cody shouted enthusiastically when Ellie had freed Penny enough for her to sit up and have her arms free again. The boy immediately jumped up at Penny and hugged her and Penny reassured him that everything was fine.
"Show me your foot," Mr. Jones now objected worriedly and knelt in front of her to take off her boot before she could do anything about it. Cody pulled away just enough to turn to his father and she let it happen, but I could see how nervous it made her, especially when Mr. Jones ran his hand up her calf a little too obviously, as he pushed her pants up a little to get a better look at her ankle. It wasn't a suggestive or sexist touch, but rather tender and gentle.
"Shouldn't we do this outside?" Penny murmured quietly and I could tell from her voice that she was struggling to make a clear sound. It didn't seem like she was offended by his touch - quite the opposite. Was that this bond that Boyce was supposed to have been talking about? A bond that kept drawing them together no matter what they did?
"It's a long way out. Without stabilizing your ankle a little, you'll only make it worse. I'll just bandage it quickly or you'll choose option number two," he replied and took a pack of bandages from Ellie, before looking up at her with a smirk.
"And that would be?" she replied quietly and raised a skeptical eyebrow.
"That I carry you."
"Option one is fine, I think," she replied and I saw her blush.
Mr. Jones began to bandage her while I helped Ellie take down the pulley and put it back in the bag. Cody was busy telling his Dad what stories Penny had told us to pass the time while we waited for help. Mr. Jones kept looking up, searching for her gaze, but Penny only looked at a spot next to her and seemed to consciously avoid his gaze.
How could it be that during the rescue they had let themselves go and flirted like two teenagers and now that it was all over they were just as stubborn as before and seemingly had nothing to say to each other?
"That should be enough until Helen can look at it outside," Mr. Jones broke me out of my thoughts and helped Penny to her feet, put an arm around her to support her and led the way with her, while Ellie walked behind me and Cody on our way out.
We stepped out of the cave and I had to blink as my eyes met the brightness that they were not used to after almost three hours in the dark caves and only slowly adjusted again with a flicker in front of my eyes.
"Thanks, Sam," Penny murmured awkwardly as he walked her over to Venus and opened the door so she could sit on the passenger side, but with her legs still hanging out to the side, which Nurse Flood immediately took advantage of to grab her foot while Penny took off her water-soaked jacket. I leaned on Venus's hood and waited for the nurse to examine her, seeing now in the daylight that Penny did indeed have a scratch on her cheek. It wasn't anything serious and would heal in a few days, but it still upset Mr. Jones. That showed pretty clearly how much he still cared about her, right?
Meanwhile, Ellie rummaged around in the car and finally came back with one of their uniform jackets and handed it to Penny so she could put it on. Mr. Jones just snorted before offering Cody to let Saturn fly - almost as if he wanted to be anywhere but here right now, he seemed to flee. Penny was just putting the jacket on when she stopped and looked down at the jacket.
"Is that my old jacket?" she asked confused and looked up briefly at Ellie, who was smiling and leaning against Venus next to her and had her hands crossed in front of her chest before Penny slipped fully into it and ran her finger briefly over a tear in the material on her left shoulder. Did she recognize the jacket from that?
"Yep. We have one jacket from your old uniforms in every car. Sam did that at some point. We see it as a kind of good luck charm. When we have a pretty bad mission ahead of us, sometimes we already have rubbed on your jacket and hoped that it would bring us luck - even Sam, when he feels unobserved. Sam doesn't admit it, but I think it gives him the feeling that you're still with him," Ellie said simply, but towards the end she lost her amused smile and seemed rather sad.
"Why didn't you ever tell me?" Penny asked her quietly, after glancing back past Ellie, apparently making sure Sam and Cody were far enough away. She didn't seem to notice that I was leaning on the front of the bonnet and I would do anything but move to get her attention!
Nurse Flood had finished her examination and was quickly dabbing the wound on her cheek with a cloth soaked in disinfectant. She gave Penny another ointment and instructions to take it slow over the next few days before she leaned into the open window of the open door, obviously planning to listen to the two women's conversation a little longer. Well, I would definitely do that too. At least something interesting could come out of it, right?
"Because you keep saying that you don't want to hear about the crazy things he's doing again," Ellie answered her with a shrug and Penny made a face.
"I definitely didn't say it like that, Ellie!" she simply replied and was silent for a moment, in which she glanced at Sam and Cody again before she stood up and pulled the jacket a little tighter around her. "I'll bring it back to you tomorrow," she said simply.
"Don't rush, it definitely suits you better than that pissy yellow uniform you have over there!" Ellie teased, grinning again and Nurse Flood shook her head, laughing softly.
"Thanks, Ellie!", Penny replied to Ellie, not very amused, before the nurse said goodbye and went to her jeep, but also said a 'bye' to Sam and Cody and gave them a quick wave, which the two of them only just returned before Cody laughed at the loop he did with Saturn and Sam ruffled his hair, also laughing. Penny watched the two of them seemingly emotionless and yet I knew something was going on inside her - I just couldn't tell if it was good or bad.
"Let's go out again, Penny! How about this weekend? Just the two of us. We haven't been out together in ages," Ellie then suggested, drawing Penny's attention back to her, but her thoughts no longer seemed really to come to rest.
"This is my children's weekend," she simply replied to Ellie.
"Then next week, when Cody is back with Sam?" Ellie gave in, leaving no doubt that she wouldn't let Penny get away with it that easily.
"Yes, of course. I'll sort this out with Jason, but since he has to go to a political meeting in London all week, I'm sure nothing will stand in the way of that," she replied to Ellie with a shrug and I was taken aback. The fact that she said it so simply showed quite clearly where she actually stood with the mayor when she wanted or had to discuss her weekends off with him - but did Ellie already know about it?
"Jason?" Ellie said so dumbfounded that I was sure she didn't know."The mayor? Why do you have to ask him...ohhh!" Recognition came to her face as Penny blushed and avoided her gaze, and it didn't seem like she was a little embarrassed about it, but rather ashamed. "Morris, you have a lot to tell me! Saturday evening, 8 p.m. I'm coming to yours!" Ellie replied and pointed her finger at her to emphasize that she would not tolerate any argument.
"Not a good idea. I promised Cody that I would go to the cinema with him," Penny replied with an apologetic shrug and Ellie sighed in annoyance.
"Woah, then Sunday for coffee. I'll bring cake from Dilys. We'll go out next week too. You can sort that out then!" Ellie replied with a grin and apparently resigned herself to her fate that she would probably have to wait another day until she found out more about the change in her friend's life. Penny just nodded and said a quick goodbye with a final thank you to Ellie before limping towards the platform. I was immediately at her side and offered her my arm so she could lean on me, but whether false pride or not, she refused my silent offer.
"Cody, will you please say goodbye? We have to go. You still have to read something for school!" she called to Cody and he sighed sadly before handing the remote control back to his father and hugging him.
Back at the train station at the foot of the mountain, Penny let me drive so she was able to give her foot rest. She didn't say a word on the drive back while Cody enthusiastically told us about his flight with Saturn and I saw from the corner of my eye how she kept furtively reaching for the tear in her jacket.
I wondered what was making her so thoughtful, while in the back of my mind I made a note that I had to think of an excuse for my parents as to why I had to take the train back on Sunday morning, so I would be able to pick up maybe something interesting when Ellie would visit her friend.
To be continued...