Why not? - English

13-16 Fire on the Water

"The scratch on Juno's left side has been removed, check. Oil skimmer is functional, check. Steele's slipper is saved, check. The professor is also satisfied, check," Penny muttered to herself as she looked at the piece of paper on her clipboard.

"Well, the point about Steele's slipper is really debatable. I doubt that it can still be saved," I said with a grin when I thought about the smelly slipper of our station officer, what Nipper had lead a end to today when I was leaning against the locker next to her and she looked up at me with a smile.

"A new pair of slippers might be a good idea for his next birthday," she replied with a smile before turning her attention back to the clipboard, but I wouldn't worry too much about that just yet. Steele's birthday was still a few months away. Hers, on the other hand, was in just under 2 weeks.

"What are you actually writing down?" I asked her curiously because she was still busy with the clipboard.

"I'm just making a quick checklist for the report on today's mission," she explained to me and was obviously finished with her notes because she finally looked up at me and lowered the clipboard.

"I know that you can be very precise, but now you're starting to work out a checklist for a simple mission report? Where did that suddenly come from?" I replied to her, not knowing whether I should be amused or confused about this new level of hyperaccuracy.

"Uhm...I don't know. It was just a thought so I wouldn't forget anything. There was a lot to do today, wasn't it?" she said sheepishly and placed the clipboard on Neptune's engine before jumping in. to check the sonar again.

"That's right. First the realization that my ancestor was an admiral feared by Pontypandy Pete and then the tour, which was disrupted by a stinky boot-chewing dog. Steele had to fight quite hard to get his slipper back, even though I don't quite understand what he's still trying to do with it," I reminded myself of the topics that were irrelevant to the report as I leaned against the railing and watched Penny check the fittings.

"But it didn't make Jodie less interested in your tour. On the contrary. She seemed to find it just as funny as we did," she replied with a grin, which gave me another idea.

"You and Jodie get along well, don't you?" I noted with a smile and she just shrugged, not taking her attention away from the display in front of her.

"I think so. She has a lot of interesting things to say and she's a very pleasant person to talk to. Definitely different than her sister," Penny remarked and suddenly became thoughtful, which made me pause.

"You really don't like Ellie anymore?" I asked her in surprise and she looked up at me, her look a mixture of shock and guilt.

"You can't say that, Sam. Ellie is just more temperamental than Jodie, but that doesn't make her a bad person," she replied, looking back at the sonar in front of her, but I knew she wasn't paying attention anymore .

"But the rumors did?!" I replied to her as I climbed into Neptune and sat on the outside.

"It sheds a different light on her. But I'm sure we'll get this sorted out soon and then everything will be back to normal," she objected quietly and with a smile that seemed more fake than honest. I should have known that this stupid rumor would still bother her, no matter how well the two of us had gotten our act back together. Still, it hurt that Penny, of all people, couldn't trust me completely.

"I hope so," I sighed and shook off the cloudy thoughts. "It shouldn't put such a strain on you and certainly not on the team or how you work together. I don't want something like that on the cliffs to happen again," I realized now and got up to leave Neptune again. No matter what stood between us, I knew time would heal it better than any words we could exchange about it, and yet the thought of what happened at the cliffs still drove me crazy.