I woke up with difficulty and couldn't even tell what had woken me at first, until I realized that the alarm was going off. The next thing I knew was two arms holding me and a leg resting on mine. Both were stirring now as I opened my eyes and realized where I was and that we were still trapped in this game. We startled at the same time - obviously Sam had just come to and I felt that I was blushing just as much as he was.

I couldn't help but smile as I sheepishly looked away to pull back the covers.

"Good morning, Sam," I greeted him before taking my bathrobe from the hanger on the closet and putting it on.

"Good morning. I hope you slept well?"

"Surprisingly better than ever before," I replied with a smile and that made him visibly relax. "And you?"

"I feel the same way." Out of the corner of my eye I noticed that he was watching me gather clothes before I went to the door, which flew open at that very moment. Luckily I had such good reflexes and jumped straight away back, but stumbled and landed right in Sam's arms, who had just been about to get up.

"My goodness, can't you keep your hands off each other?" his mother asked us seriously when she had grasped the situation and I hid my face in Sam's chest - it was the only thing there."Whatever. You overslept."

"We dont have. I just turned off the alarm clock," replied Sam grumpily as I started to gather up my things that had fallen off my arm. "And if you would knock, you wouldn't always catch us in situations that you don't like."

"Oh Sami, I never said I didn't like that," she replied teasingly. "On the contrary. I always wanted lots of grandchildren."

Okay, now it was official that I couldn't handle this openness in the morning. I turned bright red again and ran away.

"I'm going to take a shower," I whispered with my eyes on the floor and wanted to pass her.

"But I still wanted that too. So you'll probably have to spare that much time, Mom."

"It's no good if you're having fun and only waking up after the alarm goes off for the fifth time in the morning." I stopped in the bathroom door as I saw her storm into the bedroom. I heard a drawer slam then she pushed Sam out the door with a pair of boxers in her hand and I backed into the bathroom as she pushed him after me. "You can shower together. Saves time and water," she replied with a wink and closed the door from the outside. "But that you control yourself! I'll give you 15 minutes," came the muffled sound through the door and I looked up at Sam, who was staring at the door in shock and swallowing hard.

"Do you want to go first?" Sam asked me and put on a failed smile.

"Sam, I definitely won't shower in your presence!"

"There's a curtain. I won't see anything if you close it."

"You mean this curtain?" I asked and he nodded when I pointed at it. I closed it a little, turned on the water and splashed it on it before I held my hand a little distance behind it and what a surprise: the milk-white cloak became almost as clear as a window pane.

"Oh, I wasn't aware of that," he replied in shock, but then sheepishly ran his hand through his hair to sort out his thoughts. "We could leave the underwear on," he suggested with a shrug and I turned bright red.

"Sam, I won't shower with you in my underwear either!"

"Why? Is it white too?" he replied perplexed.

"Do you want an answer to that?" I asked him critically and crossed my arms over my chest. Now it was he who turned bright red.

"I'll tell them the truth now," he replied, turning towards the door.

"Now stop panicking all the time. I'd suggest you take a shower first and then keep your parents company. I won't need more than ten minutes. But I really hope your mother doesn't take me by the ears out of the shower and dragging me naked into the kitchen if I don't finish on time, just like she would do with you."

A pained groan escaped him, I couldn't tell whether it was because of the thought I had just expressed or because he was supposed to undress in my presence. "I won't look either. I promise."

He surrendered, got into the shower and closed the curtain. Just a moment later, his shirt and shorts flew into the laundry basket on the other side and I instantly blushed as I began to brush my teeth.

"Why do you think I'm panicking about something like that?"

"Because you just wanted to expose everything again. Maybe we should think of a code word to say if things really go too far. Then maybe you can finally relax."

"A code word?" I heard him ask as the scent of his shower gel hit me. "Are we here at Fifty Shades of Penny?" I rolled my eyes in annoyance. Ellie and I had overruled him and he had to watch this film with us on a late shift. Even though he had tried to distract himself with the computer in the background, he had obviously noticed enough and he would probably never forgive me for it. I turned the faucet on hot and opened it full blast. In Pontypandy the plumbing was all the same - Sam would only be left with cold water - and just a second later I heard Sam scream and turned the water off again. "Very funny, Penny. Very funny."

"Well at least you're awake now," I replied with a grin, conveying the temperature of the water so that Sam wouldn't get cold again, and washed my mouth out.

Sam turned off the water and just two minutes later he stepped out of the shower. Unfortunately for me, he had nothing on but his boxers and he looked damn good in them. I just realized for the first time that I had never seen him like that and I had to control myself from keeping my eyes on his face.

"It's your turn." He walked past me and I got into the shower but didn't hear the door.

"Did you want to stay in here?" I asked him as I risked a look and he turned to me with the toothbrush in his mouth, just silently pointed to his mouth with his free hand and turned his back to me again, I looked at him carefully for a moment. "Woe to you if you give me a cold shower!" I warned him and began to undress. We were running out of time and I decided to give in and took off my clothes. But I still stood with my back to him so as not to show him too much if he did cheat.

"Revenge is sweet Penny, but it will come when you least expect it." I rolled my eyes in annoyance when I heard his tone and still had to smile as I turned on the water. "I'll go and tame the lioness. See you soon."

"Okay, but close the door."

"It'll be done. Oh, one more thing: You shouldn't put your fresh underwear on top if you don't want to reveal what color it is. You know that I'll know what you're wearing underneath all day now?!" I put my hands over my face. How could I have forgotten that?! Which woman would love to show off her underwear? Still, I decided that attack was the best defense.

"Then I hope you like it!" I just grumbled.

"Absolutely! I like black lace." I could practically hear his grin and blushed hard before the door slammed shut.

I finished my shower, now at least safe from uninvited eyes, and ten minutes later went into the kitchen where everyone was already sitting at the kitchen table. I could tell Sam immediately that he wasn't in the best mood and didn't even want to imagine what he had heard because of his loud protests in the shower.

"Good morning," I greeted them all and ran my hand over Sam's shoulders as I passed him before sitting down next to him. He immediately looked up at me and smiled. Well at least something, I thought.

"Good morning Penny. Sam said that you're actually an early riser. How about we give Charlie the day off tomorrow morning and catch up on our fishing trip?" Padrig asked me now, smiling - with his mouth full again, which is for what he was now receiving a slap from his wife.

"I would love to, Padrig. I'm looking forward to it."

"We just need to get back early enough so we're back before our shift starts. If we don't get in the shower before then, Ellie will tease us about the fishy smell all day," Sam murmured, smiling.

"You don't have to worry about that, Samuel. You're not going out with us," Padrig replied calmly and Sam looked up.

"Why?"

"Because I want to get to know my future daughter-in-law in peace, without you constantly jumping in to protect her." He said the last word sarcastically and drew quotation marks in the air and I had to suppress a laugh.

"Besides, you're going to Newtown with me tomorrow. I want to go shopping before we set sail again on Sunday. I still need a few summer clothes. We want to spend the winter in the South Seas." It must have been a dream to be so untethered and see the world this way.

"Oh, Mom. Shopping? With you? Nothing I did was that bad?!" Sam sighed and put his face in his hands.

"Don't act like that, darling. It's not like we want to go shopping for you. Although you could really use a new wardrobe. A new style would certainly do you good and Penny would probably like it too." She looked at me questioningly and I took a quick look at Sam in his light pants and white shirt. Today his plaid shirt was green over it, but I loved it on him, especially since that pattern accentuated his broad chest that I wanted to snuggle up against. I shook that thought away and turned back to Jenni.

"Sam can wear whatever he wants. He looks very good in everything," I simply replied and continued eating, feeling Sam's eyes on me.

"I can only give that back to you, especially stunning in black," he replied with a grin and I choked on my juice again, while his parents obviously decided to ignore his comment.

"Anyway, we're leaving tomorrow morning at eight, Sami. Who knows, maybe we'll find a nice suit for you. Then you'll be prepared for the wedding," Jenni objected happily, while I patted Sam on the back . He was just about to take a sip thanks to his other hand when I noticed him wince and then put his hand over his mouth so as not to snort all the juice in his mouth all over the table in shock."And today you're showing us the new Pontypandy Maritime Museum. I'm so excited to see the treasure. Sam said you found it?" she turned back to me as I handed Sam a napkin.

"It was actually found by that professor from the Newtown Museum and Dilys Price's boy. I only rescued it with Ben after it fell into the sea."

"I'm so excited to find out all about it." She clapped her hands. "Now get ready. I completely understand that you two wanted to let off steam tonight and this morning after Penny had to work the last few nights, but we're late because of it." I blushed furiously as she jumped up and ran out of the room, and just a moment later I felt Sam's hand on my thigh. He certainly wanted to soothe me, but it didn't necessarily help to calm down my feelings - none of his touches did that.

4 hours later and enriched by all the stories surrounding Pontypandy-Pete, we left the museum again. I would never have thought that you could spend so long in a 50 square meter room with nothing to see except the treasure, a few pictures and flotsam. Nevertheless, the company had been pleasant and Sam's father had added very exciting stories to the stories that Sam already knew.

"I would be interested in the rescue center back there," said Padrig as we stepped outside and Sam turned to him in surprise.

"Really? The ocean rescue center? Our ocean rescue center?"

"Yes Samuel, The Ocean Rescue Center," Padrig replied. "Don't act so surprised. The fact that you are trained in ocean rescue is at least a small consolation for me. So you haven't completely broken with our ancient family tradition." There it was, the first real verbal punch in the gut.

"You're welcome to take a look at it if you want. We can call Ben. He's in charge there and I'm sure he'll be happy to show you around." I looked up at Sam, who had snorted disparagingly after my words, but he immediately put on a smile again. "Unfortunately, we have to be at work in an hour," I added while looking at Sam questioningly.

"Yes, unfortunately Penny is right and we still have to change. You wanted to go to the mountains with the children. We'll see each other later. Let us know if you want to see the center and we'll sort everything out or, even better, show it to yourself one evening when Ben isn't there," Sam then quickly interjected and literally pushed me into the side street.

I just managed to wave to his parents before they disappeared from my sight.

"What's wrong with you, Sam? Why shouldn't Ben show them the ocean rescue center?"

"Did I say that?"

"Not exactly, but it came across that way."

"Let's just say that Ben and I haven't been on good terms for a while now. I wouldn't like to leave him alone with my parents." That surprised me. Sam always got along well with everyone.

"Are you arguing?"

"You could say that, yes."

"And you can't get that sorted out?" Sam just shrugged his shoulders and I could tell he didn't really want to talk about it. "What's that about?" Still, I couldn't let go. Maybe we could get it out of the world together.

"Let's just say that we both want the same thing. How about we jog all the way home? You sleepyhead didn't get to do it today," he replied with a grin and I nudged him in the side with my elbow as he started to ran away. I rolled my eyes in annoyance before following him. Even if the topic seemed to be off the table at first, I certainly wouldn't forget it. I knew what Ben wanted, as I had rejected him often enough. The only question was, was that what Sam wanted as well? Then I would understand, because as we all know, friendships usually fail because of money or love...

To be continued...