Why not? - English

13-04 Pizza in the Park

I slowly came to terms with the fact that I currently had no future with Penny and was at least able to smile about Elvis's scatterbrainedness again and make one or two comments about it. Maybe our chance visit to the cinema together had helped a little and the fact that I wasn't ready to give up yet. Helen had told me that Penny cried herself to sleep. I did the same. It at least gave me hope that she wasn't over me yet. So there was still a chance.

But yesterday we had spent an almost wonderful evening together and my hope was completely back. Just like on the disco evening when we danced, sparks were flying between us again. Nobody could deny that. Even the kids had noticed and Sarah and James hadn't stopped asking the whole ride home if Penny was going to be their aunt and how cool that would be. Their enthusiasm had filled me with pride and joy, but I had to answer them that I didn't know if it would ever happen. The questions and comments that followed were both embarrassing and amusing at the same time.

"Then try harder, Uncle Sam! Be nicer to her, Uncle Sam! Are you going to have babies, Uncle Sam? Where do they come from, Uncle Sam?" I had to listen to this and much more and in the end I was more than happy that I had been able to hand them in at home before I really had to start talking about Bees and Flowers. Their parents should take care of that.

We had stopped by Bella's and even though I ended up paying so the kids could save their money, they had ordered a family pizza, of which Norman had thrown two pieces on my shirt and pants while he was rambling about the movie and raved about Dexter's stunts. Penny and I both had let ourselves go and laughed a lot with and about the children. It had been easy with the children present. Children were so simple and so full of life. You could only let yourself be infected by it.

And even though I had just had pizza for dinner yesterday, Elvis and Steele's talk about pizza during today's mission had also made me hungry, but it had reminded me that I had invited Penny over for pizza once and we never did had come to implement this - at least not alone.

Today, like me, Penny had been a little more relaxed, but there was definitely an inhibition between us again. But it bothered me less than before. I now knew how to proceed and my plan was slowly taking shape. Ellie had clearly shown today that she was in control of an operation and thought through all the circumstances before acting. It was a good start and I had just praised her for it, which she accepted proudly and with gratitude.

I was sitting in the office writing the last mission report for the day when there was a knock on the door. I looked up confused because no one usually knocked here and I saw Penny looking in the door.

"Can we talk?" she asked me hesitantly and I immediately sat up straight and pushed the papers away a little. What did she want? After our conversation, would I immediately be the happiest person on earth or the unhappiest?

"Sure!" I replied and stood up to offer her the chair, but she gestured to me that she didn't want to sit down, so I stood there too.

"What was that in the park today, Sam?" she then asked me and I paused. I would not have expected this.

"What was there?" I replied, genuinely confused.

"You let Ellie take the lead," she said simply, and it was hard to tell whether she was worried, angry, or stunned by it - maybe a little of all of this?

"So what? You did too," I replied, just shrugging my shoulders as I remembered how she had simply taken over the microwave based on Ellie's explanation of the various sources of danger.

"We were in the middle of an operation. This is not the right time or place to start a discussion like that. Besides, after she explained what types of fires there were, I went out and did my own thing," she simply objected crossed her arms over her chest. That was so out of character for Penny and my jaw dropped open. Now it was clear to me why she had swept all the pizzas off the table with the water jet instead of just putting out the fire at the end of the table. She had been angry.