When Sam finished his meeting with Steele, he went into the shower. He no longer found Penny in the hall, but he did find Max, who was doing early morning service with Elvis today. It would certainly be better if he avoided him as much as possible.

Freshly showered and in his private clothes, he still wanted to see if he could catch Penny before he went home. Something inside him screamed to finish what he started last night, even if it was only with words. He finally wanted to know if he really had a chance with Penny.

He walked up the stairs to the kitchen and immediately froze on the last step. Penny stood with her back to him, her face cupped in Max's hands as he kissed her. Sam immediately took a step back and leaned heavily against the wall that now hid him. Hot tears fought their way into his eyes and the lump in his throat seemed to be choking him. How could he have been so stupid?

The next moment, a loud bang, along with an exclamation of pain, made him stand upright.

"Don't ever do that again Max, otherwise I'll go to the supervisory authority and report you," Penny warned him angrily.

"You've got a blast, Penny. You've been sending me signals all the time."

"At most, that you should disappear from my life and I'm not just sending that to you, I've also told you that often enough."

"Oh come on, you women always act stubborn when you want to be conquered."

"For the record, Max: not all women are equal. And you've developed too much to your detriment for me to be seriously interested in you."

"Oh yes, I forgot. Our madame now prefers cowboy heroes and wannabe film stars. What does he have that I don't have?"

"Oh, let me think about it: charm, morals, respect, intelligence, courage, character, honor and, above all, a sense of duty. Do you want to hear more? I could go on forever."

Sam felt himself blushing, so flattering were her words.

"Are you going to repeat the old story again? You broke up."

"And that's your excuse for leaving me in a burning house with no oxygen to save your own ass?"

Now Sam had to fight the urge to hit him even harder than two days before. Someone like that didn't belong in the fire department at all.

"It was hopeless. How was I supposed to get you out of the room after the burning beams blocked the door? As if your beloved Sam had gotten you out of there." His taunt was so dripping that you could have slipped on it if you had to walk on it.

"Oh yes, he would have. That goes for everyone here in the station. I would trust each and every one of them with my life, just as I would save theirs at any time. We are a team and we don't leave anyone behind, ever. Especially not Sam. "

"Oh man, where have you gotten yourself into? But you know what? You fit in here. You've always been so moral." Sam heard him rearrange a chair loudly in his frustration. "Okay, since you're always so fair, give me what you owe me and then I'll leave you alone."

"What else do I owe you?" he heard Penny ask, really puzzled.

"You let me starve for half a year on my outstretched arm, Penny, and then you just broke up with me. When you're in a relationship, there are certain obligations that come with it and you didn't fulfill them. So..." Sam was shocked for a moment about the audacity of this idiot. Was that all that mattered to him? To let off steam physically?!

"Just touch me again..."

"Then what, Penny? You know that I'm stronger than you. Then I'll just get it when you least expect it and who's going to believe you, without any witnesses?" Max now objected threateningly and that was enough for Sam. No one threatened any of his friends, especially not Penny.

"Sexual harassment in the workplace, threats of a sexual offense and, oh yes, neglect of official duties during deployment are not subject to the statute of limitations, that could be of great interest to our supervisory authority and also Malcolm," Sam now intervened, stepping out from behind the corner.

Both of them started to look at him and he watched with satisfaction as Max turned white as a sheet - Penny, on the other hand, blushed and was embarrassed that he had overheard all of this. She was a tough woman, but she had to realize that she desperately needed help in this situation.

"You!" Max hissed at him and stepped towards Sam. "You stole my girl from me."

"You've already taken care of that yourself, Max. You can't treat women like that, especially not Penny. You'll never be able to hold a candle to her. She's special and if you don't leave her alone, you won't have to deal just with Penny but also with me and believe me, the entire station and the whole of Pontypandy are also united behind her. If your job is worth even a single spark to you, then make sure that you get away peacefully here for the next few days and don't come too close to me ever again and you should never volunteer for service in Pontypandy again as well."

"What's going on here?" Steele interrupted, coming up the stairs behind Sam, stopping Max from lunging at Sam without thinking, which he definitely had in mind if his body language was to be interpreted correctly.

"Nothing sir, just a few instructions from us team bosses to the new guy. He's having a few problems fitting in," Sam said now, without taking his eyes off Max.

"Oh, well, you should work on yourself a little more, Smith. We're actually very tolerant, as you can see from Cridlington." Penny had to hold back a laugh as Steele began one of his sermons and fled with a quick glance back over the slide bar as Sam said goodbye and took the stairs.

He wanted to intercept Penny to talk to her, but he wasn't expecting Elvis, who greeted him happily and asked him what there was to do.

Meanwhile, Penny got her bike from behind the station and pushed it to the gate. She looked into the hall again and spotted Sam, who was deep in conversation with Elvis. A little disappointed, she got on her bike and rode home. She first had to digest herself what had just happened with Max and didn't know if she wanted to talk to Sam about it. It had been embarrassing enough for her that he had obviously noticed everything, including the kiss that Max had forced on her and, above all, that she was so helpless and had simply had to accept Max's threats. On the other hand, she was happy to at least have a witness if Max ever became aggressive towards her.

However, she was a little hoping that Sam would come along and want to talk to her, of what had happened between them during their shift, almost happened - twice.

She would probably have to wait until the next shift, she finished her thoughts with a sigh as she reached her house and took the bike to the back of the shed.

"Hey Penny," Mary called cheerfully as she came around the corner.

"Hey Mary. Do you want to go yet?"

"Yes, I would like to have breakfast at the Cafe at the harbor. They have the best herring rolls I've ever eaten."

"For breakfast?" Penny replied disgustedly.

"I just love it," she said with a laugh, and Penny caught on as Mary grabbed her bike from the shed.

"Well then enjoy it," she replied with a wave as she cycled away.

Penny went into the house and couldn't help but shake herself. She had been very lucky with Mary. Just thinking about having to accommodate Max like Sam did sent shivers down her spine. Then he would have had more than a chance to take her by surprise. But if he was so bold as to ransack someone else's apartment, now that Sam had so openly shown his dislike for him, would he become dangerous to Sam when he was still in bed and sleeping or otherwise within the shelter of his four walls?

She was reaching for her cell phone to text Sam to be careful with Max in the house when her front doorbell rang. She jumped and couldn't help but think of Max's words from earlier as she carefully peeked around the corner.

That wasn't her style. She was never afraid, not since she took a self-defense course. But apparently Max's threat had had more effect than she would have liked.

She approached the door and was about to push back the curtains in front of the windows so that she could see the shadow in front of it, when a very familiar voice called her name and she opened the door with relief.

"Sam, I just wanted to text to you. What are you doing here?" she asked surprised, but was still happy to know he was far away from Max.

"I wanted to see how you were doing after what just happened."

"It's okay. Come in," she replied and went back into the kitchen while Sam followed her. The butterflies in her stomach were running wild with excitement, while her unwillingness to talk about Max made her anxious. "I thank you for coming to my aid, even though I'm embarrassed that you had to hear all of this."

"You don't have to be embarrassed about it, Penny. He's crazy and there are situations in life that you can't handle alone. I'm always there for you, Pen. I won't leave you hanging or alone. Never."

"Thanks Sam, that's nice of you," she replied with a smile and leaned against the counter as she handed Sam a coffee. "But I think you should also be careful with Max in the house. You have him today made an enemy."

"I'll be careful. I just clarified with Elvis that I want to give Radar some extra training in the next few days."

"As a guard dog?" Penny replied skeptically.

"He's just supposed to push me so I can wake up. I don't want Max to have a surprise advantage."

"If even you're that worried, shouldn't we go see Malcolm?"

"He hasn't done anything yet, just threatened. Malcolm can't do anything more than warn him," Sam objected with a shrug.

"I just wish the week would be over and he will be far away again. If I hadn't gotten involved with him back then or given him what he wanted back then, things would be a little more peaceful now and you wouldn't be so in his line of fire, I guess," she objected resignedly and rubbed her eyes in perplexity.

"Don't say that, Penny. You're just thinking about others again," Sam objected and stood in front of her, took her hands and stroked her palms with his thumbs. Both of them felt as if electricity was flowing through their bodies, such a tension spread through them as they looked into each other's eyes. "No matter what you do, he would always find a reason to bother you. You are such a special person and you don't deserve such an idiot or such treatment. I'm sorry that you had to go through the experiences you had with him and I would do anything to make it easier for you if I could." He looked so deeply into her eyes that she sank into his and she felt as if she could look into his soul at that moment, with such conviction and from the bottom of his heart he spoke these words: "You are worth so much more than him and what he did to you is unforgivable. He could never have loved you, otherwise he would have protected you and carried you on his hands and never asked you to do anything that you didn't want. But I also feel sorry for him because he will never realize what a stunning woman you are and how much fun it is to work with you, how much safer you feel with you by your side and how nice it is to just know to have you nearby."

"Is that what you feel?" she asked hesitantly, placing a hand on his heart as if she wanted it to whisper the answer to her. He took a step closer to her, placed his left hand on the hand on his chest and his right on her cheek, before he just nodded - her touch and the look in her eyes that looked at him so full of love suddenly had him Language lost. He wanted only one thing and was no longer able to think about anything else, and when she raised her face to him and closed her eyes, there was no stopping him and he kissed her.

She immediately wrapped her arms around his neck, buried her hands in the short hair on his neck and let herself fall completely as they deepened the kiss. He put his right arm around her and pulled her close, enjoying her scent, her warmth, the way she tasted and clouded his senses even more than he ever thought possible. Never before had they both felt so complete, so whole, as they did at that moment and only reluctantly did they separate their lips from each other as the urge to take a breath became too great, but they didn't move an inch apart.

"Are you going to slap me too now?" he sighed softly against her lips, feeling her smile more than he saw it.

"I would never want to hurt you in any way." She ran her fingertips over his neck and placed her hand on his cheek, which seemed to almost paralyze him. He was always so controlled, but she made him lose all control over himself."You are my savior in times of need and my rock in the surf, for much longer than you can imagine. You are my colleague and best friend at the same time and the only thing what can really scare me is when you constantly throw yourself into breakneck dangers." She ran her fingers over his lips and looked up into his eyes again, only to drown in their deep blue and she never wanted to emerge from them again. "Oh Sam, I love you so much," she then breathed breathlessly smiling and with tears in her eyes, because suddenly everything seemed like a dream and she was afraid that she would wake up straight away and find everything the same again.

"I love you too, Penny," he brushed away a tear that had broken out with his thumb and kissed her again, but so gently and tenderly that it made her weak in the knees. "I love you so much " he murmured between two kisses and they forgot the time and space around them as they got to know each other extensively from a side they didn't yet know.

To be continued...