At 7 a.m. Bronwyn came and enthusiastically grabbed the baby, along with the diaper bag that Sam had packed. She had fetched a stroller from her basement and went for a walk with the little one. Meanwhile, Sam and Penny sank into chairs in the kitchen and enjoyed a coffee.

"Off to work," Penny said then, clapping her hands.

"I would prefer my bed," he replied and stood up while Penny laughed. "I thought it would be hard, but I almost prefer a 48-hour shift."

"It's definitely getting better, Sam. He has a lot to process and babies do that in their sleep."

"He sleeps almost all day, so why does he have to work it out at night?!"

Penny laughed again when they arrived at the station and began their duties.

The day went by quickly, even though Penny and Sam yawned almost constantly and had to listen to some taunts from their colleagues. In the late afternoon, Penny and Radar picked up the child from Bronwyn's Whole Fish Cafe and did an extra lap around Pontypandy to give Sam some time for his garden and for a shower.

After two hours she returned to find Sam fast asleep in bed on his side. She smiled mildly and closed the door a bit before she went into the living room with Shawn and unpacked the bag full of Bronwyn's baby toys that she had given to her.

He finally fell asleep and she rolled a blanket around him so he couldn't leave and went into the kitchen to cook. She kept glancing into the living room, but the little one was sleeping soundly and so she was able to finish everything in peace.

She was in her last preperations when Sam entered the kitchen and leaned in the doorway to watch her. She had let him sleep and looked after the little one with consideration and now also cooked for him. He wanted this to go away less and less. Not because she was taking care of him, but simply because he wasn't alone when he came home or woke up, because SHE was there and everything suddenly seemed to make sense. It just felt right.

"Ah, you're awake, I hope you're hungry?" she then asked him as she placed the first pot on the table.

"I'm dying of hunger when I smell how delicious it smells here," he replied and sat down. "You should have woken me up. You didn't have to do this all alone."

"It's okay, Sam. You must have been very tired if you slept so deeply that you didn't hear us. I'm glad you were able to get some rest and you can have the bed later. You're welcome to swap."

"No, it's okay, I got dressed there after showering and actually just wanted to sit down for a minute. Apparently I fell asleep. Thank you, but you're entitled to the next nap," he replied with a wink before they began to eat.

They had just finished when Shawn started whining in the living room and Sam immediately jumped up.

"Now it's my turn. Leave everything and do whatever you want," he replied and disappeared into the living room.

Penny started washing up anyway, warmed up food for Shawn and brought it to the two of them. When she was finished, she went into the shower and was tempted to sit on the bed for a moment, but resisted the urge and preferred to keep Sam and Shawn company for a while. Once the baby was in bed, they made themselves comfortable on the couch. Sam was watching TV and Penny was reading a book. But she fell asleep on it and sank to her side. Sam looked at her in surprise and then smiled as he found her sleeping with her head resting on his shoulder. He carefully put an arm around her and gently pressed his cheek to her soft hair. He happily breathed in her scent and wished it would never end.

Three hours later they woke up because Shawn was crying again. Sam immediately jumped up as soon as Penny had separated from him and he quickly looked after the little one. When he returned, Penny was sitting on the couch and seemed embarrassed.

"What's wrong, Penny?"

"I'm sorry Sam, I fell asleep and stopped you from sleeping. You should have gone to bed."

"Hey, it's okay, I slept a little and actually slept very well," he replied with a smile. "But you should go to bed now. We have to get up early again tomorrow."

She nodded and went to bed, not without thinking about Sam's scent and warmth and the security she had felt in his arms before she fell asleep.

The next day went on a bit better. Shawn's sleep phases had extended to 3 hours and the two of them were able to go to work a little more rested. It had been quiet in Pontypandy for a few days, although it was mostly a deceptive calm before the big storm. That's exactly how it was now, because at midday the alarm went off and they were called to an operation in the mountains. Norman went down again with Joe's submarine, together with James, and once again didn't come up. Sam and Penny drove up again with Hydrus while Steele alerted Tom and Elvis followed behind with Phoenix.

Just like last time, Penny put on her diving gear and dropped into the water. She quickly found the submarine and James signaled to her that everything was okay, but the control stick had broken off. The submarine was no longer buoyant - the fact that the engine was out was probably only due to James' conscientiousness, which he had in common with his uncle.

Penny appeared and briefly told Sam what was going on, took the steel cable from the helicopter and dived down again.

As soon as it was attached to the submarine, she gave the signal for rescue and dived down to monitor everything on site. The submarine had gotten stuck between two rocks and was now slowly coming loose with a loud crunching sound. When it was finally free, it slowly rose higher and Penny was about to swim up when she saw a net coming towards her. It wrapped her up instantly. She pulled out her knife, but she couldn't free herself.

How on earth did a fishing net made of steel cable end up in this lake? she thought as she tried to find her way out of the net with careful movements.

Upstairs, Sam was helping the children out of the submarine just as James was already sounding the alarm.

"Uncle Sam, Penny is stuck in our net down there. It tore off when we surfaced because it got stuck somewhere on the ground."

"What are you doing with a net in the lake?"

"We wanted to catch the Pontypandyness Monster," Norman explained.

"That was very stupid of you. Penny will cut herself out with her knife."

"Sam? Elvis here. Joe just told me that they had a net on the submarine that's gone. It's made of steel cables. Penny should be careful down there."

Sam turned deathly pale. Her knife wasn't much of a use now. He looked at the clock and realized it was already 20 minutes down, the oxygen would run out in the next 10 minutes; if she panicked, even sooner.

"Sam to Ben, please get two replacement bottles ready. Arnold, we need the bolt cutters from Venus. Tom, fly Elvis over to me and then pick up the bottles at the ocean rescue center."

Everyone could be heard saying 'Roger that, Sam' in unison before Sam took off his life jacket.

"Uncle Sam, what are you planning to do?"

"I'm trying to help Penny. You stay here and wait until Elvis gets here. Sit down and keep your hands off all the buttons and levers!" he ordered and when they both nodded, he jumped overboard.

He reached Penny after a few meters and saw her carefully trying to work her way through the net, but she couldn't really make any progress because it was folded double and triple over her. He tapped her and touched his neck. Penny understood and showed him her oxygen gauge. She was in the red zone. She only had minutes left, Tom could never do that. He swam to the bottom and thought his lungs would burst. He pulled and tugged at the net where it was caught until he finally ran out of air and surfaced again. He tried again twice, but nothing happened. On his way back to the surface, he paused at Penny and saw that she had her eyes closed. Startled, he grabbed her shoulder through the net and she opened her eyes. She showed him her display - the pointer was at zero. She made a circle with her thumb and forefinger before motioning for him to go up. He could see a pained smile in her eyes. She gave up?

Sam surfaced, slamming his hand on the surface of the water in anger, but then an idea occurred to him. He wouldn't let Penny go that quickly, never again and especially not like that. He took as deep a breath as he could and dove toward her again. When he reached her, he reached through the net and started to remove her mask. She looked at him questioningly and he pointed his fingers at his mouth and then at hers before doing so. He pulled off her mask and placed his lips on hers. Penny froze for a moment before Sam used his tongue to motion for her to open her mouth. She understood, did so, and Sam released as much air into her as she could handle. He knew it wasn't a permanent solution. There wasn't enough oxygen in his air to last long, but it gave them the time they so desperately needed.

He resurfaced, paused for a moment to breathe, then repeated the process - again and again. But it was extremely tiring, he had underestimated that, plus the all-nighters thanks to the baby... it wouldn't be long before he would hyperventilate from the irregular breathing. But now it was Penny that counted. If she was safe, he could rest.

On the eighth time, Penny shook her head. She didn't want any more. She could see how much it was tiring him and she would rather die alone now than run the risk of having Sam on her conscience too. She shook her head and tears welled up in her eyes before she motioned for him to swim up.

Sam shook his head vigorously and tried to reach for her, pull her to him and when he had her, she put her hands defensively on his chest and opened her mouth. She blew out the old air and was about to breathe in water to get over with it when Sam covered her mouth with his. Even though her mind was closed, her body still didn't want to give up and gratefully accepted the air he offered. To her surprise, Sam didn't break away from her lips, but turned her touch into a kiss so passionate that every limb of her went soft. When he pulled away from her, she looked him in the eyes for a moment and knew he wouldn't let her go, he would rather die with her.

Sam appeared and returned a few seconds later to give her air again. The third time he had a new oxygen bottle in tow. With a practiced grip, Penny released the old one from its holder and turned around so that Sam could put the new one on her. When he had balanced it through the net, plugged it in and turned it on, Penny released air to get the water out of the mask and held the mask out to him, but he refused and surfaced. She put the mask on and took a deep breath. Sam had kept her alive, but even breathing that stale bottled air felt great in that moment.

A few minutes later Sam dived down again. Now he had put on diving equipment himself and had a bolt cutter in his hand. It only took a few minutes and Penny was free. They emerged together and everyone around them cheered and clapped as loudly as they could. As Penny pulled off her mask, she was amazed to see that half of Pontypandy had gathered there and had almost witnessed her demise.

Sam grabbed her shoulder and she turned to him. He pointed to Hydrus and she followed him in silence, the shock of what she had just experienced was still too deep and yet she couldn't stop thinking about Sam's kiss - the butterflies in her stomach did the rest to remind her. Sam pulled himself into Hydrus and helped her inside. She sank into the back seat and he slumped heavily into the driver's seat. They took off their masks and breathed heavily but happily into the fresh air, just lying there until Tom radioed asking if he should rescue them as well.

"Thanks, Sam," Penny said quietly as he answered the radio message and prepared to start Hydrus.

"I hope we never have to go through something like that again."

He spoke from her heart. What else should she say to that? So she used the trip to regain her breath and strength.

When they arrived at the fire station, Helen was waiting for the two of them and examined them one by one, but could not find any injuries or other damage. Nevertheless, she recommended that the two of them not do any more work for the day.

The two were happy to follow her advice and went to the showers before heading home.

Penny was already there before him and was making tea in the kitchen when he came over. He didn't know how to deal with it right now - sure, she had returned his kiss in the lake and even now he would like to take her in his arms and just kiss her for joy that they had managed to keep her alive. Nevertheless, there was still a little sadness and anger.

"Why did you want to give up in the lake today? It worked," he then asked, leaning against the door frame with his arms crossed over his chest and she jumped.

She just looked at him and thought about what to say. He was so serious, even seemed a little angry. How should she answer him, how should she deal with it? Did he even want to be reminded of the kiss?

"I'm a diver, I know how hard it takes you and I saw how tired it made you. You wouldn't have lasted much longer. So there would only have been one victim instead of two. I didn't know you already had a plan and set everything in motion."

"Don't I always have that? How could you doubt me?"

"I don't have doubt you, Sam. I trust you unconditionally and I know that you can do anything, but we are just humans in a dangerous job. Even there, things can go wrong, despite all the plans. I don't want to live with the knowledge that I am to blame for your death. I would do anything if it meant being able to save your life." She had simply spoken without thinking and when it sank in, she blushed and looked at the teapot in her hand. She quickly turned to put the kettle back on the stove when she felt Sam step behind her.

"I will never let a team member down." So she was just a colleague? "And especially not you," he said more gently and put his hands on her shoulders, but she was unable to look him in the eyes. "I'm not a fearful person, that would be very inappropriate in our job and yet I'm not without fear either. I don't think I've ever been as scared as I am today. I thought I'd lose you down there and then you gave up. It scared the hell out of me. I couldn't let that happen, Penny. You couldn't have saved me with that. I would have been lost either way. By God, I would have stayed down there with you."

She turned to him crying and saw tears in his eyes too. He smiled now when he saw hers, put his hands on her cheeks and wiped away the tears with his thumbs.

"Why Sam?" she whispered quietly.

"I would never want anything to happen to you and even less could I live with it. What meaning does my life have without you? I love you, Penny," he replied and placed his forehead against hers.

"Oh Sam, I...you never said anything, I...", not only his touch made the butterflies in her stomach fly again and she sank into his eyes.

"I didn't know if I had a chance with you," he sighed and closed his eyes. He couldn't bear the answer if it was no. But instead of answering, she put her hands on his neck and kissed him passionately like there was no tomorrow.

"No one else has ever had one," she then sighed against his lips and felt him smile and his tears now running down his cheeks. "I love you too."

He kissed her again, but this time so gently and tenderly that her heart threatened to melt. No one had ever kissed her like that; was able to express all his feelings for her. It was breathtaking, but this time she wasn't afraid of drowning. She couldn't get enough of it.

Nevertheless, the doorbell suddenly tore them apart and Sam looked at the clock in shock. It was after 5:30 p.m. They were an hour late to pick up the baby. How could they have lost track of time so much?

They heard Charlie's and Bronwyn's voices down in the hallway. Sam quickly went to the stairs and greeted the two of them.

"I was just about to make my way to see you," Sam concluded his greeting.

"Don't worry Sam, we were worried because that's not very typical for you and at the station they told us that it was obviously justified," said Charlie and looked at Penny, who was now filling four cups with tea, while everyone sat around the table.

"Jesus, Penny, is everything okay?" Bronwyn asked her, laid Shawn in Sam's hands and took her in her arms. Apparently she hadn't been able to remove all the telltale traces.

"Everything's okay Bronwyn, thanks to Sam. It's just that the shock is still a bit deep."

"I believe you, you poor thing."

"Does my brother kiss so badly?" asked Charlie and Sam and Penny looked at him in shock. "Down in the lake. How you gave her breath. My goodness, I just wanted to lighten the mood," Charlie surrendered to Bronwyn's admonishing look.

"If you know your brother and your father, the humor might make you think you were adopted."

"Hit sinks Bronwyn," Sam laughed.

"I'll make you something to eat right away. Charlie can bring it to you. Don't argue, you have to recover and you've got enough to do with the rascal here. He's so sweet but also very lively."

"He could hit Sam, even though he wasn't sweet," said Charlie.

"Charlie, he's not my son either."

"Tell me Charlie, what was Sam like as a child?" Penny asked and grinned mischievously at Sam. He rolled his eyes in annoyance when Charlie enthusiastically began to reveal some of her youthful sins. After the third, Sam interrupted him with the excuse that they had to get the child ready for bed and Bronwyn jumped up in shock because she had forgotten that she wanted to make them food. She frantically pulled Charlie out the door with her. Half an hour later, Charlie rang the doorbell again and handed Sam a large bag of food.

"Who's going to eat all of this, Charlie?"

"Bronwyn said you could use some new strength after a day like that. Stay decent, you two," he said with a wink and disappeared again.

Their evenings slowly became a habit. Have fun with the child, look after it, having dinner and continue playing with the baby until it gets tired and falls asleep.

Penny got Shawn ready for bed while Sam went to the kitchen to answer a phone call.

By the time Penny had put Shawn to bed, Sam wasn't back in the living room yet, so she looked for him and found him sitting in the kitchen. He seemed to be in thought while nibbling on some fish and chips that were left over.

"I thought you were full?" Penny asked as she sat down next to him and also reached into the bowl.

"I'm just thinking, I like to nibble something while I'm at it." He shrugged and took a deep breath when Penny looked at him questioningly. "Shawn's parents are being released tomorrow. They're picking him up from Bronwyn after noon."

"That's nice. I'm sure he'll be happy to be with his parents again."

"From the first evening I wished that it could always be like this."

"Sam, we can't keep him here and he has parents where he belongs to," she replied mildly, taking his hand.

"You can't miss something you don't know. But now I've tasted blood and I don't want to let it go. But you'll also go back to your apartment and all I'll be left with are the empty rooms again."

"And Radar." He forced a pained smile and patted the dog's head on his knee. "I didn't know you could be so selfish," she said with a smile and pulled him by the hand behind her to the guest room. "And that's really what you want? Get up dozens of times every night for an unknown period of time and live your whole life around that?" she asked, smiling.

"Don't tell me you didn't think it was nice with him too?!"

"I thought it was very nice, thanks to him." Sam looked at her questioningly. "He brought us together. Thanks to Norman, the events in the lake would certainly have happened anyway, but we wouldn't have been able to speak out about it like we did before. We could only do that because of Shawn."

"And Steele," he replied with a smile and she nodded. "I'll have to thank him," he added, taking her into his arms with a smile before becoming serious again. "Honestly Pen, I don't want this to ever end."

"Who says it has to?" she replied and kissed him gently. "I don't want it to end either, never," she sighed against his lips before he took possession of her again. Now everything was flooding in - their love for each other, the longing for each other that had been suppressed for a long time, especially the gratitude for their rescue today, made them forget the world around them and still want more. They made their way down the hallway, both knowing that Sam wouldn't be sleeping on the couch that night.

Penny woke up in the middle of the night and enjoyed watching Sam for a moment in the diffuse light that shimmered through the windows before she remembered Shawn. She looked at the clock and was surprised to see that he had been asleep for four and a half hours. She carefully separated herself from Sam, who had put an arm around her, and sneaked out. On the way to the guest room, she picked up his T-shirt from the evening and put it on before joining Shawn on the bed. He was sleeping soundly and even when she stroked his cheek with a finger, he showed no signs of wanting to wake up.

"Thanks little guy," she murmured quietly before getting up and sneaking back over to Sam and snuggling up to him again.

"Where have you been," he murmured into her hair.

"You're awake?"

"Woke up because you weren't there."

"I'm sorry," she replied, giving him a kiss on the chest. "I checked on Shawn. He seems to want to sleep through the night."

"He's a good boy," he murmured sleepily.

"Yes, just like you."

"Charlie told you what I really was like."

"Children are allowed to do stupid things as long as they don't endanger themselves. If we ever have some, then they're allowed to do that." That woke him up suddenly.

"Yes, they can, but only with my security check and your security briefing," he replied and Penny laughed quietly.

"The poor children."

"They'll survive, but until then I want to take care of you exclusively," he replied as he lifted her face to his to convince her of his words with a kiss.

Saying goodbye to Shawn the next day was harder than expected, but the parents were overjoyed to have their child back and Shawn also chuckled and sighed happily. Steele had given them the rest of the day off after they had come to work less rested than the previous days - only they both knew that Shawn had slept through until the next morning.

When the parents and child were gone, Penny took Sam's hand and laced her fingers with his before they went into their new life together.

THE END

To Penny's rescue in the lake: I have no idea whether the life-sustaining measure that Sam used is realistic, but since a high percentage of oxygen always remains in the air when you exhale, I thought it might work...please indulge this little (presumably) imaginative freedom. 😉 I hope you still enjoyed it.

Unfortunately I have to concentrate on other things first now, so the next update won't come until next Wednesday.