When he woke up the next morning, he found Penny still in his arms. She had rolled over in her sleep and was now lying with her back against his chest, his hand was on her stomach and holding her close to him and suddenly he could no longer explain why he had shivered with cold last night, because he now felt like she was burning him where her skin touched his - which was pretty much everywhere.

He absolutely had to get up, get some distance from her, before his body was in danger of giving itself away. A cold shower would definitely not be a bad idea either. Slowly and as carefully as possible, he separated himself from her, slid back a little and was about to stretch one leg over the edge of the bed when he realized with horror that he had misjudged and that the edge of the bed ended much earlier than expected. He lost his balance and fell out of bed.

At the same time, Penny jumped up and looked around searchingly while clutching the bed sheet to herself in shock. Her eyes found him and a questioning but also amused smile tugged at the corners of her mouth as she realized what had happened, but she still couldn't stop herself from taking advantage of the situation and examining him briefly and as unobtrusively as possible while he stood up .

"If we sleep together again, remind me to push the beds together first," he murmured sullenly, looking up at her confused as she laughed - and despite her laughter, an embarrassed blush covered her cheeks. "What? "

"I was just thinking about how Ellie would look if she caught us like that and just heard that from you."

It took him a second until he realized what he had said and also blushed bright red.

"I'm sorry," he replied meekly, while Penny sat up and reached for her cut shirt.

"It's okay. I know what you mean." She held up the shirt as Sam watched nervously as the blanket slipped down on her, revealing her back to him, but no matter how much he reminded himself to be modest, he just couldn't look away until she pulled the blanket back to her "I've read about it in so many books, but I've never thought that a man would ever tear my clothes off," she said with a laugh and threw the shirt in the trash when she did passed it.

"First of all, I had no other choice and I'd be happy to buy you a new one. Secondly, I didn't tear it off, I cut it."

"Under other circumstances it wouldn't have been any less sexy," she repeated his sentence from the previous evening and gave him a teasing wink before disappearing into the bathroom.

Glad that she was obviously feeling better, he put away the towels and clothes from the night before and gathered some fresh clothes so he could go into the shower after her.

He waited on his bed and couldn't stop himself from looking for her again and again, thinking about how she had felt in his arms, how she had smelled, the deep peace he had felt while holding her.

Although his awakening had been full of terror that he might offend her, he was surprised to find that he had had the decency not to look closely at her the previous night. He couldn't even remember if he noticed what color her underwear had been - which was the only thing he hadn't taken off of her.

His fear for her had left him with no other thoughts. How could he have had enough of her in good conscience while she fought for her life? No matter how much he loved her, no matter how much he adored her for her achievements, idolized her for her nature and adored her for her beauty - there were more important things in life and even if he reacted too quickly out of panic and an important rule in care of hypothermic people, he seemed to have done everything right afterwards and he was more than just relieved that everything had turned out so well.

"Why so thoughtful, Sam?" she woke him up and he looked up at her, unable to help the smile that immediately appeared on his face and reflected hers.

"I was just thinking about how glad I am that you recovered so well from yesterday's... experience."

"Which I only owe to you and your level-headed effort. Thanks, by the way, Sam."

"Always with pleasure, even if I very much hope that something like this doesn't happen again...or that you end up in any kind of danger at all."

"I'll definitely be more careful now."

"Do you know who locked you there?"

"Unfortunately, no. I heard a cry for help and thought it had come from the open cold room. I was pushed in there so quickly and the door was locked behind me that I couldn't see anyone."

"One of Pedro's girls said she met you at the toilet and you were going to bed. They were all very interested when Alex said you were waiting for me so he could get me out of there. I think they has something to do with it."

"I think so too." Penny told him about her meeting with her and saw Sam clenching his fists in silent anger. She crouched in front of him and placed her hands on his, which instantly relaxed and opened to enclose hers. He looked into her face with a smile. "Don't worry anymore, Sam. You found me and saved me. We now know who we're dealing with and we'll be more careful."

"You could have died if Alex hadn't gotten me out of there. They just pinned me down. I couldn't get away no matter what I tried, even though I had a strange feeling because you just disappeared without saying anything to me."

"I really just wanted to go to the toilet and then free you myself," she replied with a smile. "It's over Sam, we should concentrate on what's in front of us. I'll beat this Madi straight away," she then added seriously, putting a smile on Sam's face.

"If not you, then who?" he said and put a hand on her cheek. Was he mistaken or did she nestle her cheek in his hand for a split second? Her eyes met his again and a dreamy shimmer in them captivated him. There was the desire again. The curiosity to know how soft her lips were, what she tasted like, how she would feel in his arms. His heart was racing, his stomach was fluttering with excitement, and he felt his breath hitch as he found the courage to approach her. He felt the tip of her nose against his when there was a loud knock on the door and the shock made Penny jump and she hit her forehead on his.

"You're quite stubborn," she murmured as she walked to the door, rubbing her forehead.

"I can only give that back to you," he replied and saw her smile as she opened the door, through which Tom immediately stormed, who seemed upset, and Alex and Franziska followed him in embarrassment.

"Penny, how nice that you're okay again. Alex told us everything. I'd say we'll catch them in the dark tonight and give them a proper lesson!" He punched his palm to emphasize his point.

"Then we wouldn't be better than them, Tom. Leave it alone. Penny will take care of this bitch at the competition," Sam replied, smiling and going to the bathroom.

"Oh really? What are you going to do? Do you want to knock her out and make it look like an accident?"

"I'll just try to win. I think that will probably dampen their ambition a little bit, especially since it seems like that's exactly what they want to avoid."

"Oh," replied Tom, a little disappointed. "And where do you want to go?" he turned to Sam, who had now reached the bathroom door.

"Have a shower?"

"Sam, it's time for breakfast!" he replied, horrified.

"Tom, I haven't showered since the morning before yesterday."

"You haven't done anything that would require it...or have you?" he replied and turned to Penny with a mischievous grin, who immediately understood what he meant.

"Tom!" she simply admonished him and lowered her eyes in embarrassment. "Calm down your fantasies a bit!"

"Anyway, I'm going to take a shower now. You can go ahead. Not that Tom will starve here," Sam objected and closed the door behind him.

When he came out again 15 minutes later, all four of them were sitting on their beds and chatting animatedly. It was a nice feeling that they had made new friends so quickly. Good friends. Even if they had the same bad timing as their old friends back home.

A little disgruntled, he wondered if maybe he wasn't meant to get closer to Penny. Was fate perhaps trying to prevent it this way? Holy sparks, now he was already thinking like his sister-in-law. He shook the thought away when Tom noticed him and excitedly jumped up to finally go to have breakfast.

To be continued...