New team

22.Middle

After many days of analyzing what happened at the Newtown Fire Academy and Penny's words, none of the young detectives had any more ideas, so they decided to go to Bella's pizzeria to talk it over calmly, away from Pontypandy, where at every turn they may have accidentally bumped into Station Officer Jones, who unfortunately still didn't seem convinced by their promise to stop searching.

They were waiting at the bus stop when they saw Sarah walking with Hannah on the other side of the street. Liam immediately beamed and waved to both girls, regardless of how Chris and Tony chuckled quietly next to him.

"Still in Pontypandy?" Liam asked when Sarah and Hannah joined them.

"I don't have classes and Hannah helps at the clinic," Sarah explained.

"At the clinic?" Tony asked surprised.

“My mom is a vet,” Hannah replied. "When I come to Pontypandy, sometimes I do some cleaning. Although there haven't been many customers lately," she added with a sigh.

"It's true, most of the animals in Pontypandy left a few years ago," Sarah nodded. "We adopted a new cat, but..."

"So you have a cat?" Liam interrupted her.

"Yes," Sarah replied, slightly surprised.

"Why didn't I ever see him when we were meeting?" Liam gave Sarah a skeptical look.

"Rose isn't a house cat. She's a little... wild," Sarah explained. "She's not very social."

"Besides, you don't like cats," Chris reminded Liam. During one call, they were pulling a cat down from a tree and it scratched Liam's face, which resulted in Tony having to pull it down.

“It was an accident,” Liam retorted.

Liam wanted to add something else, but the bus had just pulled up to the stop.

"Are you coming to Newtown with us?" Tony asked.

"No. Unfortunately, I can't. I still have plenty of things to help my mother with in the clinic" Hannah objected politely.

"But I can" Sarah replied with a smile. "See you soon" she waved to Hannah for a goodbye as she ran to the bus and quickly got in. 

She took a seat at the end next to Liam as Tony and Chris sat right before them and turned their heads slightly to gigled at how quickly their team leader found himself with feeling towards their station officer's niece.
The travel passed in silence, so they had enough to think about and hope for to get some answers from their friends from former firefighting crew. Through this time they managed to get to know them better. Once a week they met in Bella's pizzaria to listen to Elvis' stories from the old days or to tell Ellie, who was still a little skeptical towards them and the possible success whether they would bring Sam and Penny together again. But after the story from talk with Penny, even Mr. Steele lost his hope in this mission.

They exitted the bus on the first bus stop in Newtown as they decided to air their minds a little while they took a walk to the pizzeria. The fresh air helped them relax as they laughed together.
Their moods changed when they noticed through the window a new person sitting next to Ellie and Elvis at the table in the corner. They exchanged confused glances and only Sarah didn't seem surprised as she opened the door for them and asked if they want to get in.

"Stop staring, get in" she pushed Liam gently through the door to finally close, as Liam couldn't stop himself from grinning stupidly, which costed him another, not so gentle, push this time.

They greeted Elvis and Ellie and shyly took a closer look at the man who was sitting between two older firefighters. He had such a short hair that it was almost standing straight on its own in the colour of brown and such same eyes. He smiled friendly at them just when Bella brought two pizzas to their table.