New team

23.Investigation

"Let's say it was strange" Liam concluded as he turned off his computer on which he was just talking to his friends via video call.

He sighed as he ran his hand through his hair. They still couldn't put anything at its place after they left Bella's pizzeria and even Ellie and Elvis didn't seem to know anything more, even with the knowlegde Arnold revealed to them. It got only more and more complicated when they agreed to call each other as soon as they all got back to Pontypandy to tell Julia straight away what had happened, not to wait for tommorrow shift and risk being caught by Station Officer Jones. However Liam didn't suspect that Chris and Tony, who embarrassedly admitted it was their idea, would be so careful to call him from the bathroom where the three of them closed themselves from Eddie.
He was recalling what they managed to find out over those past few months when his phone suddenly called.

"We need to talk" Sarah announced seriously as soon as Liam had picked up his phone.

"It sounds serious. Have I done something wrong?" Liam tried to joke, but Sarah just sighed on the other end of the call and he could bet she wasn't happy about it.

"No" she briefly assuered, but he heard a hesitant tone under her voice. "I'll explain it all to you in a moment. Can you meet me on the beach?"

"Yes... sure" Liam replied anxiously and for the first time since he was spending time with Sarah he didn't felt anticipation to seeing her again.

He grabbed his jacket and closed the door after himself before he let his feet guide him to the shore. Feeling the cold breeze air filling his nose, he tried to calm down his mind, when his feet hit the sand after he smoothly jumped from the last step of the stairs leading to the beach. He walked over the corner that the cliffs made and he couldn't help but smile when he spotted Sarah who was sitting on the rock with her face turned to the sea.

"Hi!" Liam said softly, carefully laying his hand on Sarah's shoulder to bring her out of her thoughts. "What do you want to talk about?" He asked when she pointed to rock next to her.

"I... I think we should stop digging around" she sighed after she anonounced it. "My father found out that I started helping you with all this investigation. And... he wasn't particurally happy about it" she explained sadly.

"Why?" Liam looked up at her and their eyes met for a single moment, before Sarah's gaze lowered again.

"He thinks there is nothing we can do and unburing past can hurt not only uncle Sam, but also all of us" Sarah explained as her voice threated to tremble.

"But we've come this far" Liam stated helplessly. "We've found Penny and managed to find a familiar language with former team. It couldn't have been for nothing, right?"

"That's why I wanted to talk to you" Sarah stopped Liam from a flood of his words by turning to face him. "Even though my father gave me a clear prohibition that I should stop getting involved, I don't want to. I won't give up. I want to see my uncle smile and laugh again as he used to. I won't give up. I..." she began to assure as the tears, that were till now shining in her eyes, now found its way down her cheeks.

Liam put his hand around her as he slid a little closer on the rock to pulled her to himself to hug her and gently touched her back to help her calm down. Seeing her so miserable for the first time as he had only saw her strong and confident with her eyes sparkling, and now she was crying on his shoulder because she was strong for too long.

"We won't give up either. We'll finish this investigation no matter a cost" Liam assured when Sarah finally broke away from him. "Others think so too. They were so determined that they called me from the bathroom to not let Eddie eavesdrop anything" he said, amused and it made Sarah laughed.

"How are the things going in the team? You've already been through a lot" Sarah asked as anxiousness took control over her voice again.

"Nothing to talk about" Liam waved it off with a carefree smile "We had to listen to your uncle's objections, Eddie betrayed us, Julia wanted to give up, Penny was angry at us and still we are walking in the circle" he counted on his fingers. "But that's better than not doing anything" he shrugged his shoulders as Sarah nodded in agreement. "I also have to explain one thing or two to your uncle, but your father stood up for me. That's why I'm confused why he came up with this today".

"To be honest, he came up with this yesterday when I returned home. He must have overheard something from my talk with James. I was forced to explain everything from beginning to end to him and then he started those saying, sounding more as my mum, that what was in the past should stay there" Sarah snorted dismissively.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Liam looked at her, confused.

"I didn't want to burden you with that" Sarah answered. "Besides I thought I would let that sink in and my father would change his mind overnight, but he started as soon as I returned today from Newtown".

"Do you think your father can change his mind still?" Liam asked anxiously. Without Sarah's help they wouldn't have known half of the things they knew about Pontypandy from ten years ago.

"I'm not sure" Sarah shrugged her shoulders. "But I still have James and my father doesn't have anything against you" she added softly. "Except that he now probably thinks it was your influence that made me suddenly curious about uncle Sam's past".

"Or maybe it was your reporter's instinct waking up" Liam replied teasingly.

"Or you have way too long nose not to put it everywhere" Sarah teased back. "I guess we both have to find a way to sort it out. We still have a long way to go before us".

"That's a problem. Penny is curently absent and, let's just say, even if she would be present at the Academy, I doubt she would like to talk with us after she saw right through what we planned" Liam replied. He still remembered far too vividly how she talked to Andy to keep away from them.

"As far as I can remember, Penny wasn't too good at holding the urge for too long" Sarah objected. "She was always helpful and quickly forget about bad things that happened".

"Somehow neither she nor your uncle have forgotten what separetes them" Liam reminded.

"My uncle is stubborn" Sarah admitted. "But with Penny... I can't say anything for sure".

"Don't forget what Arnold told us today. It makes it even less clear now" Liam sighed.

"Try to talk with Hannah. She is an investigative reporter. Maybe she could know more or know someone who can tell us more" Sarah proposed.

She was just about to take her phone out to write to Hannah, when Liam's phone rang with a characteristic sound of fire vehicle's siren.

"Excuse me" Liam said as, instead of Sarah, he took a phone out of his pocket and saw the fire station number shining on the display. He picked it up and heard an alarm about a fire. He wasn't surprised to experience for a very first time what it felt like to be called at the evening when they already finished duty, on the contrary he was secretly waiting for that moment to come, but he looked surprised when he heard how Sarah gasped next to him when she heard the adress.

"What's wrong? Liam asked.

"It is old Penny's house" she revealed as they both ran towards Pontypandy.