"Sir, there doesn't seem to be much going on here. Should we take Venus down to the harbor and start servicing Juno and Neptune?"

Penny quickly completed the repairs on Phoenix. Since his hook had a hairline crack, the only option was to replace it and she then had helped me with Venus. So we had already completed the first of our four tasks. Nothing was more important than that all the materials used were always in order.

"Of course, Sam. But keep your radios active."

"Of course, Sir."

I walked back into the hall and waved to Penny before getting into Venus. I started the engine and waited until Penny was seated and buckled up before I drove off.

"It should be easy to get the maintenance done today if it stays this calm."

"I don't know. I have a strange feeling." I turned to Penny briefly and saw that she was very thoughtful.

"What do you think?"

"We're in Pontypandy, Sam. We've already managed almost a whole month without a fire. We've also often had a few days of calm. But we've only had a small fire in the mountain activity center in the last two weeks, otherwise absolutely nothing. This is definitely just the calm before the storm."

"Don't conjure it up, my angel," I replied smiling, taking her hand and giving her a kiss on it. I felt her relax and a smile came back to her face.

"I just want to be prepared for anything."

"That's what we are. And we always get everything done, especially when we're both together."

"Then especially," she said, stroking mine with her other hand, which was still holding hers. Shortly afterwards I reluctantly had to release her as I downshifted and parked Venus next to the ocean rescue center.

"I'll do Juno and you start with Neptune? As soon as I'm done with him, I'll come up and help you," I suggested to her as we entered the building.

"Roger that, Sam!" she replied and saluted briefly, for which I gave her a skeptical look. I saw her turn to Neptune with a smile before I slid down the pole.

I adored this woman and I knew that nothing could ever disturb our collaboration. We were simply the perfect team.

When I entered the elevator half an hour later, I heard voices upstairs and was a little surprised. Titan wasn't in his bay, so Ben probably was out o sea with him. So who was up there then?

I pressed the button and just a minute later the door opened again one floor up, only for me to see my parents with Penny, who was explaining Neptune's controls and radar to my Dad.

"Mum, what are you doing here?"

"James said he saw you go in here. Since your father wanted to take a look at this anyway, we took advantage of the opportunity."

"You know we're on duty right now?"

"And you look fantastic in your uniform as always." She patted me on the shoulder in a reassuring gesture and I rolled my eyes in annoyance while Penny held back a laugh. "Don't act like that, Sami. We're just looking around. You won't even notice we're there. "

"Oh really? Penny, how far along are you?"

"The engine has been cleaned, all screws are tight, oil has been filled."

"See, Mom? By the time it takes me to do Juno, Penny is usually at least through checking the winch and steering as well." We usually checked only the hull together.

"You're going to let her do all that on her own while you take care of...Juni down there?" She put her hands on her hips and looked at me with a critically raised eyebrow - that look had always meant trouble and I looked to Penny for help, but she let me down - she grinned and turned back to my Dad, who was completely fascinated on the monitor.

"JunO Mum. This is a jet ski and yes, it's her job. Penny is trained for this boat. She knows what to do on it better than I do."

"Samuel Peyton Jones. I didn't raise you to let a woman do such work alone! A gentleman always relieves a woman of anything unpleasant and ignorance is not an argument for not doing it. Now make sure you pay attention to this. Go on that boat and do a little work for your future wife!"

"Jenni, it's really like Sam says and I really enjoy doing the work."

"No, no, no. Sami will manage it and if necessary he can ask you. You can now show us the ocean rescue center."

"So we won't be at the Cafe in time for dinner if we don't finish here," I mumbled after looking at the clock - we only had an hour left until we finished work time.

"Then make an effort, Sami. There's no dawdling!" I looked at her in shock as my Dad climbed off Neptune smiling as Penny came up to me and gave me a kiss on the cheek.

"I'll make it up to you," she said quietly to me, but her grin showed me that she was still having a great time. "And don't forget the life jackets, love," she called to me as she followed my parents to the elevator.

I took a deep breath before resigning myself to my fate. It didn't make any sense after all. I just couldn't compete with my mother. So I started with the winch.

I was just picking up the life jackets in the box when I heard a loud "Yay!" I turned around and I saw my mother sliding down the pole to the lowest floor and, in disbelief, I slapped my forehead with the palm of my hand. I walked closer and then saw that my father was stuck on top while Penny, with an amused tone, tried to explain to him that he needed to loosen his grip. Just a moment later he too shot past me and landed on his bottom, unceremoniously but laughing. Penny followed the two, stopping at eye level to look at me, smiling, shrugging her shoulders, and rushing off after them.

Even though this was strictly against the rules, I still had to smile. Apparently Penny wasn't the only one who made me want to let myself go in her presence. So I went back to my work and saw that Ben was back and was steering Titan back into his bay. Should I perhaps go downstairs before Ben found out from my parents that we were a couple now? How would he react?

But a look at my watch told me that I had to step on the gas if I didn't want to get in trouble from my mother again - wait a minute. How old was I actually? I took a deep breath and continued. It would be okay and in the end Ben had no choice but to accept his fate. He hadn't won the battle for her heart...at least I hoped so. I didn't know if I had won her heart or just her temporary favor.

The life jackets were fine and I had just finished inspecting the hull of the boat when the elevator rang. I looked up and saw my parents coming out of it laughing. Penny followed them smiling, Ben on the other hand seemed anything but happy - so he must have noticed something and I was a little relieved that he stayed so calm.

"Sami, remember," my mother called to me and tapped her watch with a broad smile before leaving the ocean rescue center with Dad.

"Well, Sami, is mommy stressing you out?" Now Ben also had a grin on his cheeks. A disgustingly malicious one.

"Restrain yourself, Ben. Envy speaks from you."

"Envy? The way your parents are, she'll run away from you all by herself and then I'll be there to offer her my arms for comfort."

"What do you mean by that?" I replied angrily and had to control myself not to grab him by the collar.

"Your parents don't mince their words at all and I don't know if Penny is the type to be able to put up with that in the long run."

"In the end, it's thanks to them that we're even together, so..." I left the sentence open and Ben looked at me in surprise for a moment. What was new to him now? Hadn't my parents spilled the beans to him yet?

"You touched her?!" Ben grabbed me by the collar so suddenly that I staggered for a moment.

"Touched and more, and I'm very happy about it. What's your problem, Ben?" Penny asked him and looked down at us from Neptune skeptically. She must have gotten in on the other side, otherwise I would definitely have noticed her.

"How can you take him when you can have me?!" he asked in disbelief and let go of my collar, not without pushing me backwards against Neptune.

"Maybe you'll just think about your question. Then you'll know why." She jumped down from Neptune next to me and put an arm around me, which I couldn't resist doing the same to her. "You can be a good loser or risk being reported to your superiors if you touch Sam again. That's entirely up to you."

"Don't come crawling up if you're fed up with him," Ben growled and turned around. Now it was me who wanted to grab him for his insolence towards Penny.

"Don't get your hopes up, Ben. That'll never happen."

We watched him disappear into the elevator before I turned to her.

"That will never happen?" I asked her now, smiling and her cheeks blushed a little.

"Not as long as you want me. But even after that, Ben wouldn't be an option. He never was and he knows it."

"I want you by my side until the end of my days. Nothing more, nothing less," I replied and her eyes widened in surprise. That unsettled me a little, but what was the point?! At least I just wanted to play with open cards. I put a hand on her cheek and kissed her tenderly to convince her of my words and felt with happiness how she gave herself to me again. "I love you, Penny," I then said quietly as I looked into her eyes saw.

"I love you too, Sam," she replied with a smile and kissed me again so that my knees threatened to weaken. "We should check the screen. We're late," she then murmured against my lips.

"I don't care," I simply replied, just overjoyed that she felt the same way about me as I did about her. I could have torn up trees for joy at that moment, because I was so happy.

"Will your mother not care too?" I paused and looked at her smiling face.

"I'll be really happy when they set sail again on Sunday."

"Sam, they are your parents!" she replied. "We will still have enough time for ourselves. Enjoy the time you have now. You are a family."

"WE are a family, Pen, and that will never be different," I replied and kissed her briefly again before we finished our work. The day couldn't have gone better. I had heard the three magic words that made my heart beat faster and made me the happiest man in the world and I had also seen Ben's stupid face when he found out about us. I would declare this day to be my personal holiday.

To be continued...