Alcohol is absolutely not a solution (and I am absolutely not a fan of it myself 😬), but some people tend to use it when they are very desperate and at least it loosens the tongue a little 😉... I have processed that here. Have fun while reading.

"What's wrong with you, Sam? You're making a face like 7 days of rainy weather."

"It's just dull weather for me. Do you still have the habit of hoarding Dad's favorite liquor?"

"Shh! If Bronny knew, she would dump it right away." Charlie went to a cupboard and a moment later put the bottle on the table, took two shot glasses from the other cupboard and poured them both. "Now tell me what my brother, who is always positive, always in a good mood and always keeps calm, has to think he needs Dad's medicine for bad days."

"Sometimes you just have days like that," he simply replied and drained his glass.

"Could it perhaps have something to do with a certain someone?" Sam shrugged and reached for the bottle to pour them both a second time. "What happened, Sam?"

"I found out at the station today that she's going out with Ben."

"Are you sure they're dating? As far as I know, Penny and Ben are just friends."

"Well, Ellie called it a date. Penny denied it. But the fact is that the two of them are doing something together today and that could increase his chances. It's no secret that he has the hots for her."

"Sam, why are you doing this to yourself?" He looked up at his brother questioningly. "You could have changed it a long time ago if you had just told her how you felt about her."

"Yeah, sure, and destroy everything between us if she doesn't love me? No, thanks. Then I'd rather leave everything as it is. At least that way I can't lose her completely."

"Oh, and do you think you could just carry on as before if she took someone else? Maybe marry him? Do you think you could treat her children just like all the other children in Pontypandy?"

"I love her and for that reason, I would love her children too...at least half of them. Even if I wish the other half would be mine."

"You're a hopeless case. Finally come clean with her. You'll never know how she feels about you if you don't tell her and you'll always regret it. Sam, you're already screwed if she just go out with someone else. Do you think that you'll just accept it if she shares a table and a bed with someone else?!"

Sam's eyes widened as images of Penny sharing a bed with Ben flashed into his head and he took the bottle from Charlie, from which he was about to fill the glasses for a third time, and took a deep drag straight from the bottle.

"I do not know how."

"You fight fires every day, abseil down steep walls, hang from helicopters and always deal with the most dangerous situations with a cool head. But when something like that comes to mind, you can't think of anything? Just tell her the three magic words. There's nothing more to do."

"Yes, of course, it's nothing more. It's all so simple," Sam objected sarcastically and downed another glass. "What if she doesn't love me? It would be so unpleasant for both of us that we would instinctively hold back on everything that was completely normal for both of us before, just so that the other person wouldn't misunderstand it. It would change everything."

"It would change everything too IF she love you too."

"Yes, but in a positive sense!" Charlie hesitantly poured his brother a fifth shot of liqueur, who was already slowly starting to trip over his own tongue. For someone who never drank alcohol, it obviously didn't take much to cloud his brain, which Sam felt, because he buried his hands in his hair and kept his head bent over the table as he began to wail."I love her so much, Charlie. When she's not there, I feel like I'm missing something. When she's in danger or doing missions without me, I'm so irrational afraid, even if I knew how well she is trained and how she acts much more carefully and by the book than I do. I just want her to be safe...and happy. When she is around me, it seems to me that the sun never sets. Her laughter makes me happy too. Her smile makes my heart tremble. Her touch is like a balm that can heal everything. I never feel as safe and secure as in her presence and I wish so much that she could be with me all the time and that it would work between us."

"Maybe it does, Sam. The only way you can find out is to talk to her and now don't go back to saying that it scares you! You're not afraid of anything or anyone. What do you have to lose? If she really doesn't love you, you'll know it and you can let your heart heal. But do you want to carry on like this forever? Look where it's gotten you: You're suffering like a beaten dog because of your ignorance to finally take your luck into your hands and tell her before you go completely crazy." Sam looked embarrassed at the table in front of him. He knew his brother was right and yet he didn't want to hear it. One but after another popped into his head, but he wisely kept it to himself because he knew that Charlie wouldn't tolerate any but's anymore.

Charlie looked at his cell phone and a grin appeared on his face as he read the message from his wife that had just arrived. "She's downstairs with Bronwyn in the Cafe."

"Who?" Sam asked in alarm as his head shot up.

"Well who do you think I mean?! Bronwyn thinks she could use a little comfort from a friend."

Sam immediately jumped up in a panic and ran down the stairs as if it were a matter of life and death. When he got downstairs, he had to catch himself on the door frame to avoid knocking half of Bronwyn's inventory over the pile and looked into the surprised faces of his sister-in-law and his beloved one, who seemed to be physically fine, which made him breathe a sigh of relief. He straightened himself, cleared his throat briefly to give the impression that everything was normal, but he couldn't fool the two women.

"Is everything okay, Sam?" Bronwyn asked him now and he saw Penny close her mouth again - she had wanted to ask him the same thing.

"Um, sure. Everything's fine. Why?" He gave Penny a quick wave before turning back to his sister-in-law.

"Well, the way you came rushing down the stairs, I wondered for a moment when you managed to get the herd of elephants up there without me noticing." Penny had trouble hiding her smile behind her hand and Sam felt himself blush.

"Um, I seem to have lost my balance on the top step." He turned to Penny. "I thought you went out today?" He tried to make it sound casual, but he doubted whether he succeeded, and Penny didn't show whether his question bothered her either, only turning to the glass in front of her and holding it out to Bronwyn in a silent request for supplies.

"I was, but our intentions from the evening weren't the same."

"Okay." What did that mean? Which of the two had hoped for more? He stepped next to her and waited until she had downed her glass and gasped briefly as the force of the alcohol hit her. "Shall I go and punch him?" Penny looked up at him in surprise before smiling.

"You'd better sit and have a drink with me. You look like you could need one too."

"What makes you think that?"

"You look disheveled, like you've been hit by a leaf blower. Was it that or are you tearing your hair out of worry again?"

"Since how long do you know me so well?" It was just a rhetorical question and so Penny only answered it by returning his smile. Penny raised her glass, which Bronwyn had just filled, and turned to Sam to give hime one as well.

"To you, Sam. The only true, decent man in Pontypandy."

"What happened?" Sam asked seriously and slammed his glass back on the counter. Penny jumped and looked at him skeptically.

"Nothing. I just said that." Sam raised a questioning eyebrow and Penny realized that he knew her at least as well as she knew him and sighed resignedly. "Nothing important. We were just at the cinema. I didn't think anything of it and said yes. I've been to the cinema so many times with Bronwyn, Helen, Ellie, Elvis or Tom. Well, I didn't think anything of it until he put his arm around me in the middle of the film and tried to kiss me." Sam clenched his hands into fists and Penny realized that he was about to burst the shot glass in that. So she placed her free hand on his and he immediately relaxed. "But he stopped trying and here I am now. So, cheers?" She raised her other hand with the glass and Sam did the same wistfully, as it meant that he would have to forego her touch.

"Ah, ah, ah," Bronwyn chimed in as the two had clinked glasses and were about to empty their glasses. "You have to look each other in the eyes when you drink. You know what they say..." She left the sentence unfinished, but Sam and Penny immediately turned bright red and awkwardly turned back to each other, clinking glasses again and being careful not to look away from each other's eyes.

"I think I've had enough for today," groaned Sam, who didn't seem to like Bronwyn's strawberry liqueur on his Dad's aniseed liquor.

"Oh come on Sam, one more thing to loosen up. You can't stand on one leg." Bronwyn poured it for him so quickly that he didn't have time to react and Penny didn't have a chance to protest either.

"Not at seven either, Bronwyn," he just grumbled and his sister-in-law remained confused for a moment before she understood. "Charlie! Have you unpacked your father's liquor again?!" Bronwyn shouted and disappeared upstairs.

"Oh, oh. Your poor brother."

"I'll probably have to put a few new bottles on him soon for that." They laughed briefly before Sam felt the need to satisfy his curiosity. "So you and Ben are just friends?"

"Of course, what else?" Sam shrugged. "Although I think he'll probably be a bit reserved now that I've backed down. It's a shame how something like that can throw things off together just because some people can't handle that love can not be forced."

"Now can you carry on as if that didn't happen?" Now it was her turn to shrug her shoulders.

"I think so. That doesn't change who and what he is like and I really appreciate his professional achievements."

"Could...could you treat everyone like that when they confess that they...like you?"

"Probably. I don't know why not. But why are you asking me that?"

"Oh, I was just curious," he said, turning to stare at the wall above the stove.

"Couldn't you?" Penny asked curiously and followed suit. She couldn't and didn't want to look him in the eyes.

"Deal with someone who loves me but I don't love her like it's nothing?" Penny nodded, but the smile had disappeared from her face. "Yeah, in that case, I think I could."

"You say it like you couldn't if it were the other way around."

"Neither could I. It would be unbearable to know that the woman of my dreams loves someone else, who can touch her, kiss her and care for her."

"You have a woman of your dreams?"

"Doesn't everyone have that?"

"I don't have a woman of my dreams," she replied and winked at him with a smile when he gave her a furtive sideways glance. "But a man of my dreams and I would probably feel the same way about him as you do about your dream woman," she murmured quietly and it hurt Sam so much to hear that she was in love with someone that he let the disappointment take over his thoughts completely.

"Well, that's why I'd rather leave everything as it is. I'd rather have you as a good friend and colleague than losing you completely." He downed his liquor in frustration before placing the glass on the counter and sighing in resignation. He didn't notice that Penny was looking at him with wide eyes, he was so lost in his self-pity.

"Have we actually ever drunk brotherhood?" she asked him as she filled his glass again.

"I don't think so. Neither of us normally drink. Do you want to fill me up?"

"Why? Are you easier to get then?" she replied and winked when he turned to her in surprise. "Come on. This one won't blow you away."

She raised her glass and when he followed suit, she wrapped her arm around his, looked into his eyes and sank into them, all too aware of each other's breathing, their faces inches apart. They drank their liquors, but even when they had emptied the glasses, they didn't move away from each other, didn't lower their eyes and finally Penny gathered all her courage and bridged the few centimeters and placed her lips on his.

There was a clink before both of his hands tenderly cupped her face and he deepened the kiss. She willingly collapsed against him, saving at least one of Bronwyn's shot glasses as she placed it on the counter before burying her hands in his disheveled hair.

Neither of them had any idea how long they had been kissing, neither of them gave it a second thought and neither of them cared about what was around them.

In that moment, all that mattered was the two of them, the feelings that bubbled inside of them and the emotions that seemed to run through them as they shared the most wonderful experience that they never could have imagined in their wildest dreams.

"I hope it's not the alcohol," Sam sighed quietly after they parted their lips breathlessly.

"Since I had a lot less than you, I can say that it isn't." She gently stroked his cheek and gave him a quick kiss. "I love you, Sam." It took a moment for Penny's happiness to turn to concern as she saw Sam's eyes glaze over. "What's wrong, Sam? Are you not feeling well?"

"Not well?! Holy crap Pen, I'm feeling fantastic. I love you too. You don't even know how much." He kissed her again. "I'm just so overwhelmed and at the same time I'm afraid that I'll wake up tomorrow morning and find that I've already been lying on Charlie's couch at this moment and that this is all just a dream."

"I know how you feel," she replied thoughtfully. "How about I wake up next to you tomorrow. Would that convince you?"

"It would be a start."

"What else do you need in terms of convincing?"

"I think if you sleep and wake up next to me for the rest of our lives, it'll probably be enough for now." He pulled her down from her chair and put an arm around her to leave the Cafe with her when they heard Bronwyn coming back down the stairs. "Tell Charlie he was right. It was easy," he called to his sister-in-law before giving Penny a kiss on the temple and Bronwyn watched the new couple leave smiling.

THE END