Thanks to Samandpennyedits_x for getting this idea in my mind. Have fun reading ☺

As I drove into the Floods' yard, I turned on the siren briefly before stopping and jumping out. I opened the passenger door, unbuckled her and picked Penny up in my arms again. To my relief, Helen was already at the door when I turned around.

"Sam. What happened?"

"She skidded off the cliff and hit the wall. She's been unconscious ever since. Do something, please Helen." I laid Penny down on the sofa and Helen immediately began examining her.

I sank heavily into the chair next to her and waited impatiently and nervously for Helen to finish, watching her every move as she patted down Penny and finally removed the bandage to examine and clean her head injury.

It seemed like an eternity until Helen was finally finished and at that moment Penny also groaned in pain and clutched her head. I immediately knelt in front of her at Helen's side and took Penny's other hand. She looked up at us questioningly.

"How are you, Penny?" Helen asked her.

"I just have a bit of a headache, I think," was her only answer and it made me smile. This was so typical of her that she didn't tend to exaggerate.

"Well, if that's all, then you'll soon be your old self again." Helen gave her an encouraging pat on the knee.

"That would be nice, because...I don't even know who I am." I looked at Penny in shock, then at Helen, who also seemed surprised for a moment. "And also not who you are." Helen was the first to compose herself.

"You are Penny Morris from Newtown. You live in Pontypandy and are a firefighter here in the town. I am Helen Flood, your friend and nurse from Pontypandy. This is Sam. Sam Jones. He is your colleague and a very good friend. Did that help you?

She looked at us emotionlessly for a second before shaking her head.

"Unfortunately no. I'm sorry."

"Okay, no problem. The memory will come back, Penny. You're just experiencing temporary memory loss. Please excuse us for a moment." She motioned for me to follow her and we went into the kitchen, where she turned to me quietly. "She must have hit the rock wall pretty hard. She doesn't necessarily need to go to the hospital, but she should be under constant observation. I think she'd be in the best hands with you. Help her slowly and gently with the memories and you'll have to call me if she vomits. That's never a good sign with head injuries." Helen went to a cupboard and unlocked it, took out a box of pills and handed them to me. "These are strong painkillers. Give her one if she asks for some."

"How long can something like this take, Helen?" I asked worriedly, without taking my eyes off Penny, who had sat up on the sofa and was holding her head. She must have had a really terrible headache.

"Maybe hours, maybe days or even weeks. You can never say exactly. Show her pictures, tell her about your experiences while working. But please do everything very gently. If you notice that it's overwhelming her, stop." I just nodded. I had understood. The prospect of spending a few days with Penny 24/7 should have made me happy, but the fact that she had lost her memory disappointed me. If she really loved me, like so many people in the city claimed, she had forgotten that too. "And please take care of your colleagues. I know how much they like to have fun from time to time. They shouldn't take advantage of the situation and telling her things that aren't true. It would confuse her more than help her regain her memory."

"I'll be careful, Helen. She's safe with me."

"I know, Sam. That's why I advised you to do this." She smiled and we walked back to Penny, who was now looking up at us.

"Come on, Penny. We'll stop by your place and pick up a few things. I'll look after you for a few days until you're well again."

"Shall I stay with you?" she asked skeptically and looked at Helen, who nodded with a smile. "But I don't know him. Is he my...friend, in that way?" she turned quietly to Helen, who laughed quietly.

"No, Penny. Sam isn't your boyfriend, but he wouldn't harm even a fly and especially not you. He's your best friend. That's why you're in the best hands with him."

"OK." She blushed and I gave her a hand, smiling, to help her up.

"Shall we then?" She smiled now too and took my hand before we went back to Venus and got in.

She looked around her house carefully while I turned down the heat and turned off the electricity - you never knew what could happen when no one was there for days.

When I was finished, she came down the stairs with a bag and we locked the door behind us before continuing on our way to the station.

"You would think that I would have to remember something in the house. But there is nothing," she said, disappointed.

"Your memory will come back, Pen." I reached for her hand briefly and squeezed it with a smile before I had to downshift as we drove into Pontypandy. "I really don't know anything anymore. Somehow everything is gone. I only have that feeling with you."

I switched on at that moment and Venus's engine roared. I immediately shifted back into a higher gear.

"Sorry," I said now embarrassed. "A...a feeling?"

"Yeah, it feels good when you touch me. Kinda right."

"I'm glad. I feel the same way about you." I smiled, certainly stupidly, but I didn't care. I just felt happiness at that moment. The fact that Penny had forgotten everything but still felt comfortable with me had to be a good sign."Soon you'll have your memory back and then you'll know why that is. Maybe you'll tell me then if you like? "

"Yes, of course. Why not?!" she replied with a smile as we drove into the station and all our colleagues in the hall turned to us.

"Hey, Penny. Are you okay?" Ellie asked her as she got out.

"We were worried," Elvis added as I went to her side.

"These are our colleagues. Ellie Phillips, Arnold McKinley and Elvis Cridlington. Ah and over there is Station Officer Steele, our supervisor."

"Uh, Sam?" I turned to Ellie, who looked at me as if I had blown a fuse. "I thought Penny hit her head and not you?" she said in her sweetly diplomatic way.

"That's right, Ellie. That's also why Penny lost her memory and doesn't know any of us anymore." Loud Ah's and Oh's now came from our colleagues. "Take her through the station a bit, maybe it will help. Helen said we have to be very careful and not tell her anything wrong. So everything in moderation, please Ellie!"

"Understood, Sam. Then come with me, Penny. I'll show you around," she hooked herself into Penny's arm and went upstairs with her while the other two resumed their work.

"So memory loss?" asked Steele.

"Yes, sir. Penny doesn't remember anything at all. We went to her house on the way back to pick up a few things, but even that didn't trigger any memory in her mind."

"Why did you get things there?"

"Penny will stay with me for a few days. Helen advised us to do so. She needs to remain under observation."

"I see. I'll put you two on shifts together for the rest of the week so you can keep an eye on her. I think work will probably do her some good to jog her memory. But please be careful she doesn't overdo it." I nodded gratefully.

"Of course, sir. She needs to be introduced to the memories gently and it shouldn't overwhelm her, otherwise it could make things worse. So we have to be careful about what Elvis and Ellie in particular tell her. You know how quickly and happily the two of them can just start chatting."

"That's right, Sam. I think that's why you might not want to leave her alone with Ellie for too long. I'll be in the office if you're looking for me."

"Yes, sir." I followed the two of them up the stairs and heard them talking in the kitchen. I was about to enter the room when I heard something that made me stop.

"What's the deal with Sam?"

"Sam is our team leader and you are his deputy."

"Ah. That's not what I meant, but okay. Well, I'm definitely not doing the job very well at the moment."

"It'll be okay, Penny. In a few days you'll be back to your old self. Then what did you mean by Sam?"

"I like him...a lot. Although I don't know him...at least not at the moment. You all seem nice, but with him there's more. It feels different," she answered hesitantly.

My heart jumped with joy and if those butterflies in my stomach really existed, then there were a million dancing tango in my stomach. Hearing that was more than I ever dared hope for.

"Of course you do, you love him. Your subconscious probably senses that, even if you've forgotten it."

"Did I tell you that?" I heard Penny's astonished answer.

"Well, not so directly, but you blush every time it comes to your feelings for him."

"Are we...am I with him..."

"If you are a couple?" I didn't see it, but since Ellie continued talking, I assumed Penny had nodded. "I don't know. You always deny it, but sometimes you act like you are one. You'll have to ask Sam about that."

At this point I decided it would be better to interrupt her. It had probably been confusing enough for Penny up to this point, so I didn't need to force Ellie to put more questions in her head.

"Penny?" I called and waited a moment before entering the room. "Ah, there you are. Could Ellie help you find your way around?"

"That and more, Sam!" Ellie replied, grinning.

"Thats what I feared." I sighed in annoyance. "Whatever. Is there anything you want to know or see?" I then asked Penny.

"I don't know what would help me get my memory back, so I have no idea."

"Mike Flood and Norman Price detonated a rocket in the Flood shed," Steele shouted over the speakers as the alarm went off and I was already following Ellie to the poles before I remembered that Penny certainly didn't know what she should do.

"Come with me. You can watch from a safe distance and maybe it will help you remember."

"Okay, but I'd rather take the stairs." I had to smile as she ran off and disappeared down the stairwell.

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I put Penny's bag down in the hallway before going into the kitchen and turning on the kettle.

Meanwhile, I offered Penny the living room and when I finished the tea and went over to her, she put the remote aside and gratefully took a cup from me as I sat down next to her.

"This is your favorite tea. You always like to drink it in the evenings."

"How come you know so much about me?" she asked me and I looked at her in surprise.

"We are both friends, best friends. We certainly don't know everything about each other, but we know a lot."

"Unfortunately I can't say that about you at the moment."

"It'll be fine, Pen. Be patient." I took her hand and squeezed it, trying to comfort her, but she blushed slightly and so I pulled away instead. I didn't want her to misunderstand my gesture after what Ellie had told her.

"How...how good are we two...friends?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, are we really good friends or is there...more...between us?"

"What makes you think that?" I asked innocently and took a sip of tea. How should I answer her? If I confessed my feelings for her, it would be fine for the moment. But what if she remembered and then it put her off because she only feels friendship for me?

"Ellie told me today that she didn't know if we were together or not, but we would act like that sometimes."

"We treat each other differently because we are very good friends. We laugh, we joke, we just have fun. In front of everyone else I always have to maintain the facade of the serious team leader, but with you I can be who I am. You don't judge me for being childish or have less respect for me because of it. You're different, special."

"Does that mean there's nothing more?" she asked now and even if it was perhaps my imagination, she seemed a little disappointed to me.

"I'm very grateful to have you as a friend, Penny. Don't say anything bad about it," I replied with a smile and turned to her so that I could sink into her beautiful eyes.

"That's not what I meant. I apologize. I just thought there might be more." She lowered her head and looked at the cup in her hand.

"Sure it could," I replied with a smile and her eyes met mine again. "But that takes two and I would like to discuss the subject with you when you have your memory back. It will be better to clarify it when you know why you feel this way and not now when you're not sure why you only seem to be fond of me."

"Now I understand what Helen meant when she said that I was in the best hands with you," she said, smiling so lovingly that I wanted to kiss her. But I fought the urge and cleared my throat awkwardly before excusing myself to get the guest bed ready for her.

We went to sleep early that night...

Fortsetzung folgt...