New team

25.Meeting after years

Hi! This is probably a moment you were all waiting for. But it is not exactly something I had in mind, but it won't get any better so I will try to make up for it in following chapters.
But here I owe a huge thank you to FreeThoughts271. This chapter wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for you so I formally wanted to dedicate it to you❤️

It was a sunny morning when Sam was forced by the resent events to go on special meeting between each station officer and Chief Fire Officer Boyce. As much as he avoided leaving Pontypandy for last ten years, now when he finally had to, he couldn't resist himself the pleasure to go for a walk in the park near the Newtown Fire Academy, where the meeting took place.

There wasn't a lot of people in the park as well as children on the playground. But there was one person that immediately caught Sam's attention. A woman with blond hair in a braid was leaning against a pole and watching the playground. Even though he couldn't see her face clearly, she looked strangely familiar to him. Something in her way of moving as she pushed herself of the railing and walked a bit away from Sam, wrapping her arms anxiously around herself. But when she nervously looked through her shoulder, hers and Sam's gazes met for a brief moment. And now seeing that hazel brown colour of them, only one glance at them, was all the proof Sam needed to assure who she was. Not without the reason people tell that eyes never changes.

"Penny?!" He called out anxiously as he quickened his pace.

After walking a few meters, he saw the woman stop and sigh, letting her arms fall freely along her body.

"Penny, is that really you?" Sam repeated with hope in his voice.

"Sam?" The woman turned towards him with slight surprise.

Now Sam was definitely sure that Penny was standing in front of him. Her eyes, as brown as ever, gleamed slightly as the tips of her lips twitched upwards.
In Sam's eyes, Penny hadn't changed at all. She had the same smile, the familiar twinkle in her eye, only her hair was longer than before, but she didn't look at all like ten years had passed.

"What a small world. Star and star can't meet, but man can" Sam joked, but one look at Penny, who suddenly became serious, made him fall silent.

"Excuse me" Penny looked at him skeptically. "Don't call me a star!" she emphasized, narrowing her eyes.

"But why?" Sam was surprised.

"There was nothing between us, okay?! And it better stay that way," Penny hissed pleadingly. "It's better this way, Sam, for both you and me," she explained and was about to turn around when Sam grabbed her wrist in a rather desperate gesture, as he almost fell over himself when Penny yanked her hand away.

"How come you're still repeating the same sentence after ten years?" Sam asked, offended. "It's a pity that you're still lying to your face, too," he added accusingly, but his voice sounded more exhausted.

"Are you starting again, Sam?" Penny sighed in annoyance, looking at Sam with boredom. "We've been through this before. Twice."

"Maybe it's time to clear this up. You know what they say: three times a charm" Sam tried to joke, but again Penny didn't approve. In fact, with a rare reaction.

"We don't have anything to explain, Sam," Penny replied indifferently. "It would all come down to me having to tell you what you want to hear," she added sadly and turned away.

"You know that's not true!" Sam called after her. "I never wanted this," he muttered quietly.

"Then why do you always sound like that?" Penny asked sarcastically. "It's never been us here, Sam. Accept that it's always been just you," there was desperation in her voice.