The sun was shining brightly high in the sky as Ellie and Penny were taking out of the storage room the table and some chairs. 

"Is it everything?" Sam asked from below the table as he ended tightening the screws of it. 

"We still need the first aid equipment for exercises, but Helen promised to help us with that" Penny answered simply as she leaned on the railing to take a deep breath. 

"What's that?" Sam asked worriedly as he came closer to her, when Ellie walked back to the storage room with Arnold to clean the messs there a little bit. 

"I don't know. I had a bad feeling when I woke up today" Penny sighed turning her face back to the table. "But what's the worst that could happen?" She shrugged her shoulders as Sam laughed at her easy-going manner. 

The preparations for the arrival of Newtown Fire Academy cadets and their instructor went smoothly and by the time the bus arrived Penny, Ellie and Helen with a little help of Sam and Arnold managed to put everything at its places at the park. 

When the women waited for the cadets to get off the bus, two men waved for goodbye as they walked back to fire station. 

"Woah, I smell trouble. Look who my eyes see?" Ellie pointed to the dark haired man who got off the bus as the last one with a helmet in his hand. 

"From all the people" Penny muttered through clentched teeth when he came closer to them. She forced a smile when they exchanged a quick handshake. "We'd better stay out of each other ways" she whispered directly to him as he looked at her startled when she passed him by to catch up with Ellie. "What are we going to start with?" she asked Helen casually.

"Maybe with exercise in pairs and then the accident scenarios" Helen invented as they made themselves heard for group of Newtown cadets (mostly boys, but few girls could also be seen among them). 

Newtown Fire Academy was a regular univercity, in difference to Cardiff Fire Academy which was one of from elite. That was the reasons why neither Penny nor Ellie expected the cleverest ideas and the most brilliant cooperation, but they got surprised. Most of the cadets were on they second year, only a few studied third year, but they had already had plenty of experience. 

"Good job, Jake" Penny encouraged as she walked by to the third group's chair to see how they managed to walked with the last theoretical exercise. 

The pairs quickly created three groups as they walked through the first aid questions together under watchful eyes of Penny and Ellie. They had five tasks. Each group had an arbitrary order, so Helen was not bored at the table where she had previously laid out the necessary first aid equipment. In pairs, each person had to do the exercise on the other, show it to Penny or Ellie, and then put the equipment back.

The first task was for the cadets to place the person in the safe side position and then, after a short break, begin cardiopulmonary resuscitation on phantom. Then their role was to treat the head wound and deal with suspected concussion. The third item on the agenda was for the Newtown cadets to immobilize a fractured tibia in their leg under normal conditions. Then they had to bandage and immobilize the open fracture of the forearm bone. And finally, they were to do what they should do in the case of croton, burns and frostbite.

With their tasks well done, the cadets had some time to eat while Helen, Ellie and Penny sat to the side, silently observing the park and writing something on the pieces of paper on the table. At least they thought they were alone until a fourth shadow fell on the table.

"Maybe me and Helen will go to see if the scene" Ellie made a quote sign in the air to show her scepticism once again to just build scene next to the bower. "is ready for the play" she invented and pulled Helen after her, to leave Penny and their guest at the table. 

"We can't stop bumping into each other in the last few weeks" Ryan smiled innocently as he tried to paid Penny's attention. 

"I know what you're thinking, but, like I told you, this chapter is over" Penny foresaw what Ryan was up to and tried to stop it. 

"Come on, Penny. It was just a joke" Ryan didn't give up, but the memory he just reflected to, reminded Penny painfully that day. 

"I'm far from interested to discuss it with a person who was perfectly aware of what he was doing. Ryan, you dared to call yourself my friend" Penny tried to sound emotionless, but Ryan's comeback to her life jogged the memories, which she would rather leave buried. Not that it wasn't happy part of her life, she couldn't denied that she felt more than just friendship towards Ryan once, but it was a hopeless case, so she prefered and would be glad to stick to her happy life at Pontypandy from now on. "Better go and get your cadets to the stage. It is already a good time for instructor to show what he really can do" she couldn't help but tease Ryan a little. First aid had never been his strong side. 

They walked to the stage, staying as away from each other as it was possible not too look ridiculous in front of cadets. They asked the first group to come to them. The group leader drew a piece of paper with a task for his group. He passed them to Helen, who quickly organized Ellie, Penny and Ryan on how to play. The whole point of the game was that a group of cadets had to help the organizers in their improvised accidents. Each group had a different scene to experience while the rest watched their actions. Each performance ended with a burst of laughter, but the instructors laughed too. It didn't take much to laugh at simple but very common mistakes resulting from following the book.

The practical part passed quickly and in a very relaxed atmosphere, although interest and disappointment were clearly visible when Ellie and Penny, the two main actresses, looked away when they heard the siren of Jupiter coming to the action. The leader of the group of cadets thanked them solemnly before the cadets began to gather their things, discussing contentedly.

However, they had no time to board the bus when a loud crack was heard in the distance. Ryan left and walked over to Ellie and Penny, who looked around for the source of the sound.

"I'll go check it out," Penny suggested.

"Alone? You're not serious, are you?" Ellie asked in disbelief.

"Someone has to hand out certificates of participation," Penny smiled confidently before she stepped aside to let an older man who got off the bus pass. Only after his eyes met hers did she realize her mistake. "Chief Fire Officer Boyce?"

"Great job," Chief Fire Officer Boyce patted both firefighters on the shoulder. "I'll go with firefighter Philips, you can go with Ryan," he turned back to Penny, winking meaningfully.

"Roger that, sir" Penny replied dryly, lowering her gaze as she stepped aside and tried to remind herseft the direction of overheard noise. 

They walked towards the stage, keeping a neutral distance from each other. Neither of them wanted to break the silence. Penny knew why her father sent her and Ryan. She knew that Chief Fire Officer Boyce knew her skills, but at the same time he desperately wanted his daughter to come to terms with, well, the most likely candidate for her future supervisor.

Her past with Ryan wasn't a happy one and her father knew it. As time passed, Penny even felt like opening up to her dad a little more, but she didn't want to make the same mistake when she found a safe haven in Pontypandy. She didn't want to destroy it because of family ties. She knew it wasn't worth it. Sentiments had only been destroying her life for as long as she could remember.

She was pulled out of her thoughts by Ryan's sudden scream and she felt her face hit the ground painfully. She was stunned by the loud bang and only after a while did she realize what had happened. The roof of the stage collapsed, right over her and Ryan's heads. She opened her eyes and met Ryan's face just centimeters from her own. Normally she would have been furious with him, but now she realized that her ex-boyfriend had saved her life. However, his face contorted in pain as soon as he tried to get up.

He swayed as soon as he put his weight on his leg, but Penny managed to pull herself out enough to get up on her own. She looked around, the roof of the stage had fallen, leaving a gap on the side they came from. It was tall enough for them to crawl through and get out. However, reality was not so kind, because the smell of smoke reached Penny's nose and a moan of pain reached her ears.

She looked at Ryan and saw that the leg of his pants was smeared with blood, and what had cut it was undoubtedly his own bone. Penny had nothing with her. No radio, no phone, the only thing she managed to find in her pants pocket was a piece of bandage, which she didn't have time to give to Helen, and a pack of tissues.

She bent down and placed a protective hand on his shoulder before carefully tending to his broken leg. She placed rolled tissues around the bone and wrapped the entire wound thoroughly with a bandage. Ryan groaned a few times in pain, but didn't show how much he really hurt.

"It must hurt a lot?" Penny broke the silence. The smoke was already starting to irritate her eyes, and she knew she couldn't let Ryan close his.

"No less than your indifference," Ryan replied through gritted teeth.

"I'm sorry," Penny only managed to say that, because when she looked up to look Ryan in the eye, she heard a familiar voice shouting her name.

"Penny! Run" she only had time to look towards the exit and saw Chief Fire Officer Boyce running towards them before the roof of the stage collapsed again.

Hello everyone! The chapters before were just a prologue to what this story was planned to be about. And this chapter is a begining, but the real action will start still later on. Promise it will be worth a little fear;)