Separated ways

28.Making values worse

They didn't come back abroad through the whole week. They stayed in Pontypandy and from lack of things to do, they volunteered to participate in Pontypandy Fire Station's life once again. Three months were what separeted them, but something else was standing in their way more. 

"Seriously?" Sam asked Arnold and Elvis on their morning coffee. "Mike did what?"

"Mike tried to build a treehouse on the ground and then make it work as an elevator on the tree. But it didn't work and we had to get him down from the tree when he was hanging, tangled in the ropes. We could get him quicker if McLoad didn't get in a way and instead of using Jupiter, we had to use ladder" Arnold explained once again. 

"That's why it is so good to have you and Penny back. Tell me, Sam, that you're not going to leave us?" Elvis asked beggingly. 

"I'm not moving anywhere from here, Elvis. Ryan have to cope with it" Sam crossed his arms on his chest as he assured them. 

Until the sun was high on the sky, Arnold came home, while it was Ellie's and Penny's turn to take the shifts.  It walked smoothly again, but Penny was still quiet, while Ellie still thanked Sma that he forgave her. He probably didn't have to go through such thing as Penny. 

"Have you talked with Penny yet?" He approached Ellie when she quietly came to her locker. 

"And have you?" She teased him back. 

"You're starting again?" Sam raised his eyebrow more annoyed than in a warning way. 

"Sam, all she told me was that the accident I wrote about was due to the newspaper she got the very same day" Ellie sighed. "I try to talk with her but she keeps avoiding me". 

"Then tell her the same reason as you told me" Sam tried to convince his colleague. "It worked on me, then why do you think Penny won't listen to you?".

"She is much more stubborn than you are, Sam" Ellie underlined. "I can talk for hours and she won't even turn her head to look at me" Ellie complained sadly. "Can't you talk with her in my name?" She begged helplessly. 

"I'm not sure, Ellie..." Sam hesitated. 

"Come on, I know I made a mistake and went too far with the articles, but I had to think of something to bring you back home. Both of you" she smiled apologisingly. 

"I still think it would be better if you say it to Penny personally, but maybe it is not going to hurt" Sam finally gave in, shrugging his shoulders helplessly. He looked over the lockers line, before he found his way up the stairs to wait for a perfect moment to talk with Penny in peace.

He found one few hours later, when she was drinking her tea calmy in the kitchen. She was again very reserved and that worried Sam. Luckily there was no one else in the firestation except of them, because Ellie volunteered to take Radar for a walk and Elvis had already ended his shift. 

Quietly asking for a permission, he took a seat opposite Penny, after he made himself a tea as well. 

"What is that for?" He pointed to a blue ice pack they used to cool a hurting place. He didn't intent to start this talk so awkardly, but nothing better came to his mind, while remembering Penny's quiet hiss of pain when he hugged her. 

"Oh, I forgot to put it back in the refrigator" she stood up, embarrassed. She walked to the kitchen and put the ice bag in the refrigator while Sam's gaze was following her. Something was odd about her last few days. "It is nothing, Sam" she said when she came back to meet his concerned look.

"It is not nothing" Sam objected politely. 

"My wrist still hurts a little from time to time. Ice helps" Penny explained briefly. 

"Maybe you should..." Sam tried to advise, but Penny's resilent look scared him. 

"I know what you're going to say, Sam, but I had had enough of advises" she interrupted. 

"What's wrong with you, Penny?" Sam asked, trying to make her laugh by playing offended, however deep inside he really was offended by her behaviour. 

"Nothing, like also nothing happened" she answered indifferently, taking a sip of her tea. 

"It doesn't look like that for me" Sam disagreed. 

"What do you want to hear from me?" She looked up at him with so much pain in her eyes that Sam backed away. "That I'll forgive Ellie so easily as you did? I know what you came here for, but she had to understand that she went too far this time". 

"Indeed, you saw right through me that I wanted to stand up for Ellie once again" Sam spoked calmy, raising his hands in defensive gesture. "Because she learned her lesson and she really wants to start talking with you like back then. We all want to" he added, trying to take Penny's hand in his, but she jerked it out. 

"There's nothing to talk about" she said dryly. 

"I know that look. You're hurt, Penny, I know you are" Sam tried to convince her to open up. 

"You think it didn't hurt me when I saw the photo of you in that newspaper? You think I could still think straight later on the action? My accident" she pointed to her wrist to underline her words "was because I wanted to give up". 

"Why?" Sam was left speechless because of her confession. 

"I didn't have a reason to fight anymore. You..." she stuttered as if she realized what she almost had said. 

Sam decided it was better not to presure her more. He trusted her and it was enough for him. He sat a little closer to her and waited in silence. 

"I was left speechless when you stood right before my eyes last week" she finally spoke. Her voice was calmer than before, but her eyes were as fixed in the distance.

"Me too. I was afraid I would not see your face again" Sam confessed, but even this didn't make Penny look at him.

"You see, I'm not ready yet to forgive Ellie. It hurt me deep enough, but, worse, it also hurt other people" Penny explained, standing up. 

"Penny, wait" Sam called after her and managed to reached her in the doorframe. "Don't let it overwhelm you. I'll always be here" he assured her, laying gently his hand on her shoulder. When he read the newspaper he was so afraid he waited for too long, but now he couldn't force himself to speak up his mind. Something in Penny's eyes was sparkling as a hope, but it faded because of the hurt in them.