"Did they all take part?" Sam asked in surprise as the crowd of people around them grew larger as they waited for the awards ceremony to begin and Penny also looked around, who had just been leaning against him enjoying the moment as his strong arms wrapped around her from behind, holding her so close to him.

"Apparently there are around 200 firefighters here and 123 women," Alex explained to them, while at the same time typing away on his cell phone - which he had been doing almost constantly since last night.

"What are you doing with your phone all the time, Alex?"

"Greetings from Ellie," he just mumbled, saying nothing else.

Sam thought briefly about what the shift schedule had looked like for this week. Since he and Penny had been away all week, he hadn't bothered with it too much, but he was pretty sure Ellie was on the day shift and pulled out his own phone to send her a quick message too. Since he didn't want to let go of Penny for anything in the world, he did it in front of her body and looked over her shoulder and she also lowered her eyes and read what he wrote: There's no flirting on duty. Some vehicle always needs to be washed!

Penny laughed quietly but didn't say anything and it was only two minutes after Sam put his phone back in his pocket that Alex also put his phone away and glared at him.

"When I asked Penny yesterday if her boss was the terrible Hulk, I obviously wasn't wrong. You can be really mean, Sam."

"I'm just doing my job," he replied with a grin, but that was lost when Alex's cell phone beeped again and he stared at it again, smiling.

"By the way, I'm supposed to tell you that you're not on duty. She's just taking orders from Steele and he told her to let me keep her updated." Alex only turned to stick out his tongue at him briefly before turning back to his phone and everyone around him giggled, even Penny.

"Traitor," he murmured and Penny tilted her head to the side and turned her face to him to comfort him with a kiss. It helped until they heard the sound of a camera.

"Got it!" Alex said with a grin as they turned to him in surprise. "Just in case. Not that you think about interfering in things that don't concern you again."

"I thought you were our friend," Sam replied critically.

"Did you remember that Ellie and I were your friends when you tried to stop us from having fun?!"

"Okay, okay. I'll allow you to have fun. I'll behave."

"Well, you see. It's okay!", replied Alex and punched Sam in the shoulder in a friendly manner, who just rested his chin on Penny's shoulder with a grumpy grumble, but she knew that he was smiling.

The jury now entered the stage in front of them and sat at the table before another man entered the stage and was handed a microphone by a woman.

"A warm welcome and an even bigger thank you to all of our participants. Without exception, you all showed fantastic performances. But today we want to choose the best three among the men and women - the toughest firefighters in the world!" The crowd around them cheered and applauded in agreement and it took a few minutes for everyone to calm down enough for the speaker to be heard again despite the microphone. "This competition demanded everything from you, pushed you to your limits and beyond. Strength, stamina, speed and above all ambition and perseverance were the challenges you had to overcome and, with a few exceptions, you mastered them all." Cheering and applause broke out again, but this time it died down more quickly. "Let's start with the ladies then. In third place, from France, Madeleine Bellevue," the speaker shouted and Pedro's Madi made her way to the stage. She smiled as she accepted the medal, her certificate and the handshake from the speaker and then the entire jury, but her stiff posture showed that she was not really happy.

"Wow, if Madeleine is third, we now know where Penny ends up," Tom objected and everyone turned to Penny with a smile.

"99th place?!" she asked innocently.

"Subtract another 98 and you're probably right." Franziska gave her an encouraging pat on the shoulder while Penny watched as second place went to an American who seemed far happier about it than Madi.

"Not in life. Who knows how many penalty points I got because I was too focused on getting over with this too quickly," she replied smiling and she really believed it, snuggling a little closer to Sam's chest in her back, who immediately tightened his embrace gently and placed a kiss on her neck. Even without placing, she was the happiest participant of all because she had won the most valuable thing this competition had to offer her.

"This year we are awarding first place to a remarkable participant who swept us off our feet with her magnificent and breathtaking performance. The winner, by a long way from second place, is... from Great Britain... to be more precise, from Wales...Penny Morris!"

Her eyes widened and she immediately blushed as she slowly realized what was going on.

"I knew it," Sam cheered now as he turned her around in his arms, cupped her cheeks in his hands and kissed her overjoyed. "Congratulations, my kitten. You deserve it." Alex, Tom and Franziska also patted her on the shoulder and congratulated her before gently tearing her away from Sam and guiding her towards the stage. She walked as if in a trance and covered the distance, up the steps and had barely reached the stage when the speaker approached her.

"Congratulations, Ms. Morris. Tell me, did you know what you were doing when you rappelled down? That was spectacular. Nobody has dared to use this expertise here before," he turned to her and held the Micro to her.

"You shouldn't do that if you don't have the appropriate training and even then, safety always comes first," she replied hesitantly.

"Then why did you use it?"

"Because I can?!" she replied hesitantly and the speaker laughed loudly and briefly put his arm around her before grabbing her right wrist.

"Obviously. This year's toughest firefighter in the world. Penny Morris!" he shouted loudly into the microphone and raised her arm in the air.

Sam applauded and whistled with his three friends and saw with a smile how uncomfortable Penny was with the attention and how relieved she was when she finally received her medal, certificate and handshake before the jury members all rushed forward to congratulate her too, before the ladies were asked to stand next to each other again for a photo.

"If looks could kill, Penny would immediately fall over from Madeleine's stare," Sam muttered sullenly.

"That's true, but seeing her with that look was worth everything. Penny literally dumped her," Franziska cheered enthusiastically, while the speaker dismissed the women from the stage - except for Penny. He turned to her without the microphone and spoke to her. Surprise and uncertainty entered her gaze and she took a few steps back to wait for something.

"Why do they keep Penny up there? Because she came first?" Sam now turned to Alex, who was still filming with his cell phone and shrugged his shoulders.

"They've never done that in the last few years. I don't know if the procedure has changed," Tom answered.

In the meantime, third place had been awarded to a Norwegian, but Sam only had eyes for Penny. He gave her a questioning look, but she just shrugged discreetly. He really hoped that there was nothing evil behind it or that Pedro and his women had planned something again. But if that was the case, he was ready to run on stage and protect Penny at any moment.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Pedro walking onto the stage and was surprised to see that he had come in second. Well then at least they would soon have it behind them and Penny would soon be safe near him again, he thought with a sigh of relief. At that moment he had no idea how quickly this would really happen.

"And first place goes to a man who is not entirely unknown to most people. On the big screen last year, otherwise on duty in Pontypandy in Wales and now also the toughest firefighter in the world: Samuel Jones!" Alex, Tom and Franziska jumped up and down, clapped their hands excitedly and patted him on the shoulder and back, like they had just done with Penny.

"Now go on!" Tom then asked him and pushed him forward not quite as gently as he had previously done with Penny.

He knew he was red even without a mirror and he glanced at Penny, who watched him with joy until he arrived on the stage and was greeted by the speaker: "Mr. Jones, tell us your secret to your success. You must have trained like a madman to show such a flawless performance, right?"

"Not really. We only started training about two weeks ago," he replied truthfully and the host laughed.

"What else keeps you so fit and in exercise?"

"We train a lot on duty when we have the time and take our job very seriously. It's probably the passion for the job that makes it easy," he replied hesitantly and the moderator patted him on the shoulder before shaking his hand, put the medal on him and handed over the certificate. The rest of the jury also rushed over to congratulate him before he and the other two had to line up for a photo. He hated standing so close to Pedro, but he would get away soon and then he would be safe to see Penny - at least he hoped.

But contrary to expectations, they were sent off the stage, including him, and he took another look at Penny, who was now called forward again. Something wasn't right here and he stood at the bottom of the stairs, ready if she needed his help.

"We haven't had that for a long time, Ms. Morris...actually nothing that can be compared to your case. We always have an expert with us at the competitions who observes them for other purposes and, if necessary, acts as a witness. I would now like to hand over the microphone to him." The speaker turned to a short, older gentleman who stepped forward and gratefully accepted the microphone.

Sam was confused. Witness? What did they blame Penny for? What could she have done?

"For the competitions, there is a time window of a maximum of 16 minutes for men and 20 for women," the man opened his speech. "Mr. Jones was the fastest male participant this year with 12 minutes 38 seconds and this time is extremely good. It has only been beaten minimally in the past. I am pleased to be able to tell you here and today that you have not only won first place but also an entry in the book of world records. Not only were you the fastest woman in this competition, Ms. Morris, but you were also the fastest competitor ever at 9 minutes and 25 seconds. Nobody will take the title away from you so quickly, my dear," he objected and shook her hand while the crowd applauded again and Penny was completely overwhelmed.

Sam just waited until Penny received her next medal and certificate before running up to her on stage. She was still taken by surprise, couldn't believe what had just happened and she hated all the attention. She wished she could just disappear into thin air. The last juror had just extended his hand to congratulate her and turned away when Sam stood in front of her, pulled her close and kissed her. Now she wanted everything, but she certainly didn't want it to disappear as she kissed him back and lost herself in it.

"You're not a kitten. You're a lioness," he then sighed contentedly. "It doesn't surprise me at all, but I still want to be the first to congratulate you after the judges."

"Thank you Sam and congratulations to you too, but I would still prefer that I wasn't the focus anymore," she replied embarrassedly as the crowd only slowly calmed down after their performance.

"We can change that," objected Tom and Alex, who waved the two stewards over from the competition. "Let's go celebrate!" he called and they sat Penny on their shoulders while the stewards picked up Sam and carried both of them through the crowd, which cheered them and shouted congratulations.

Only Pedro and his two ladies stood at the edge and glared after them. But they didn't care. Everyone had gotten what they deserved, Sam thought with a smile, and Penny especially. She was perfect and now it was official how perfect she was.

To be continued...