Separated ways

2.Blindly in the rain

It wasn't so typical for June, but this day started with sun so high and so bright that first time everyone of firefighters perfectly understood why Ellie was not in the mood.

"When was a time when it was cold and snow was all around?" She muttered as they were leaning back on Jupiter in colder garage.

"Do we always have to remind you that you yourself hate winter?" Arnold bit back. This little joke made everyone laughed, even Ellie, however something in her smile told it was not going to be easy to go out of here. "Auu!" Arnold jumped away when something looking like a ball had hit his shoulder.

"It was a surprise for Penny, but you need it more, Arnold" Ellie joked when the ball flew over her head right on Elvis. It was true that Penny wasn't there with them today, and by the last few days too. It wasn't the same without Penny around, but she chose to not be here with them now.

Sam just sighed and walked away from the garage to avoid his colleagues laughter and joy. He liked it, even very much, but without Penny it wasn't worth his time. If this team had a heart as a person, Penny was surely the one. He and Elvis they could be the lungs as they were a part of active team the longest, Ellie could be a soul as she was the one to always ran everything around her, Arnold could be the brain with his knowledge and reliable nature, and with station Officer Steele as every single breath.
But without a heart it couldn't work good, in any way. There was going to be always something to be fixed and without a heart it couldn't be possible.

"What's wrong with him?" Arnold asked, pointing to their team leader standing with his back to them, when Ellie once again hit him with the cold ball.

"Love" Elvis sang lightly when Arnold tried to catch him with the ball. "Sam without Penny is like... a missing puzzle."

"Rather like a blind bird pretending he know where he is flying to" Ellie riposted.

The team spent a good hour playing and laughing, but Sam didn't added himself to the game, he prefered to take Radar somewhere calm and they found themselves a place on the bench in trees' shades at the park.

"What do you think, Radar? Am I a coward like they're saying behind my back? Or I should really..." he was talking his mind out loud only by a short moment to Radar. The dog heard probably as much stories, confession and was a wittness to most not daily dramas as vehicles in firestation's garage, but everyone were sure he was reliable for this trust he was given.
Radar barked few times and Sam had to stop his story, because it started to rain so heavily that before Sam reached firestation he was already wet to last straw.

"You didn't want to play with us, so now you're wet that way, aren't you?" Ellie joked still leaning on Jupiter with Elvis and Arnold along.

"We have unwritten rules here, Ellie" Sam muttered through clenched teeth. But alarm had stopped them all from discussing those unwritten rules.
"Sarah, James, Norman and Mandy went to the mountains and hadn't come back yet. Moose didn't find any trace of them before" Station Officer Steele announced by a speaker. "Sam, try to reach Tom and take Radar with you" he ordered taking a look by his door.

"Roger that, sir! Sorry, Radar, that you'll have to get wet, but please do it for me" Sam managed to make dog's mind and let him jump first inside Jupiter.

When Sam, Ellie, Elvis and Arnold reached Bessie's garage it had already been raining so heavily that they started to have problems with communication, so as soon as they drove to the mountains in Bessie, Elvis tried to reach Tom by radio.

"There's no way it will work, Sam" he complained after third try.

"It won't work anyway, Elvis" Sam tried to shout over the rain. "It is not the weather where Wallaby could be useful."

They split up when they ran to Mountain Activity Centre only to notice Moose energically waving to them.

"Have you found something Moose?" Sam screaed over the wind and rain.

"No, but I managed to find one of them's jacket" he handed Sam a blue jacket.

"It's James'. Let's hope they didn't split up" he let Radar sniffed the jacket as strong as the dalmatian could. "Arnold, you and Moose will check the ground around there and wait for them if they come back somehow on their own. Elvis and I will search deeper with Radar. And we need to secure the ropes, Ellie" Sam ordered.

"To Bessie, Sam?"

"It will be too far" he looked around and pointed to first tree on the left of the building. "Here, it will be good."

Everyone quickly took their possitions, watching how Sam, Elvis and Radar walked inside of a shade of the forest. It was slowly getting dark and they needed to hurry, because even walking in such rainfor such a long time could make anyone seriously ill. They walked past another shallow when they heard something behind the branches of short trees. Sam walked there and tried to move the branches away to see if the children could hid there, but he was surprised when Penny walked out of them. She was as wet as him and Elvis even if she had raincoat on herself while they had only their uniforms and helmets.

"Penny! You made us jump" Elvis welcomed her as warm as always Elvis did.

"What are you doing here?" Sam asked puzzled and reaching for his rope, but Pneny stopped him with her hand.

"I'm going with you, I was at the mountains when the rain first started and I knew about twins, Mandy and Norman" she stood her ground, making it clear for Sam she won't give up.

"I'm sorry I have to interrupt, but Radar seems like he found somebody" Elvis shouted from across the tree.

Sam and Penny took this direction in silence, but they immediately smiled when they saw how Radar was licking children's faces, one after another. They took the kids back to Mountain Activity Centre where they planned to stay until it would be safe to get them back to Pontypandy.

"This is for you" Sam handed Penny a blanket when they reached Pontypandy fire station an hour later.

Penny took it with thankful smile and embraced her shoulders with it to warm up. Sam and the others had their second uniforms in their lockers, but unfortuantely Penny took hers to home on her last shift.

Sam wanted to tell something else, but he hesited and when he turned around again, Station Officer Steele asked them all to come downstairs to the office. He wasn't smiling, so everyone waiting in suspension to know what made his so quickly changed his mind - he was so proud of them when they came back.

"Can I have your attention? But mostly your" he nodded to Penny meaningfully. Radar sat down on the floor between them with titled head, but his ears were laying flat on his head. "It is about Chief Fire Officer Boyce..."

Hello everyone! This chapter is something I added to the original plot that was stuck in my head for over an year now. But I hope you liked it anyway and I wonder what you thought at the end;)