Back in Business
Chapter 5
Author's Note: Thank you so much for reading this! If anyone's reading at all...I know you're there, so you better reveal yourselves haha! Goodness knows it took me long enough to even start writing a fanfic for Fireman Sam! By the way, sorry if my detective plot is not good, because I'm not completely used to writing thick plots. Also, just thought I'd let you all know, this is a fic that even kids can read, it's PG-rated for the rescues that happen in this chapter and the last. Now, on with the story!
"This is *huff* not going to do...*huff*," Ella wheezed to herself in the privacy of her bedroom. She had just ran home after returning Lily to the Chens and the effort had tired her greatly, although she was a quite active person. As she went upstairs to her bedroom, she carefully unpinned her braids from their loop around her head and they fell to rest just over her elbows. She unbuttoned her cardigan and hung it over the mirror of her dressing table before knocking her shoes off and lying down on her bed. "Too much energy being wasted, " she added as she tried to regulate her breathing, "Must reserve it for the cafe...Can't keep going on like this..." She just lay there staring at the ceiling with a dozen thoughts buzzing through her head as she slowly dozed off...
Hmmm, let's see...Two scoops of sugar, one pinch of salt...No, no, no, that's not right...Two scoops of sugar, a pinch of paprika and some rosemary should do the trick.
Oh yes, Auntie's old potato patch! That definitely needs rejuvenating...I must order some compost from Newtown and turn the soil over, so that next week's rain can do the rest!
I wonder how Matt is doing. Better send him a letter as soon as I can. No, an e-mail should be fine, he can delete it as soon as he reads it. But not just yet, it's only been a month and one and a half weeks since I arrived...
*COUGH! COUGH!* Where's all this smoke coming from?! Oh gosh, I can't move, what's happening?! It's too hot, the world's gone orange! Wait, who's that crying? Lily? LILY?! Are you...There you are! Wait, that's not Lily...that's...
"DAAAAAAAAADDDYYYYYY!"
*GASP!*
Ella sat up on her bed with a start. She breathed heavily, then realised she was sweating and opened the window near her bed. The breeze from outside cooled her and she looked out forlornly at the mountain range not too far away.
Another nightmare, she thought, Just when I believed they were gone for good...And it's all THEIR fault...
She sighed and tried to sit up, only for the pain to start again.
"NnnnnggggGAAH!" she cried out and lay back down on the bed, trying to hold back tears. This time, it was not the ordinary dull pain that she felt after taking a painkiller pill once a day like the doctors had ordered. This was worse. This was the sharp, excruciating pain that she felt the first time she woke up in Newtown hospital five hours after...
"O Dio, no!", she thought in panic. "Not again!" With great difficulty, she finally sat up on the bed, gnashing her teeth in pain and reached for the pill bottle on the bedside table nearby. She took one pill and washed it down with a glass of water she had on standby. A moment later, she took another one.
"Now, about that potato patch..."
She got up and put on her shoes, not bothering to pin up her plaits or grab her cardigan. After grabbing a wide-brimmed hat (It was a hot day), some essentials from the backyard and a map of Pontypandy that Bella had given her before she left Italy, she made her way to the fields near the mountain range and easily found Bella's reasonably-sized potato patch. It looked rather lonely. She thought it must have been left alone for quite a while and that made her sad. She immediately started to shovel and sift the soil and did as much planting as she could manage. She did her best to flex her bad leg as many times as possible, knowing that keeping it in the same position for more than five minutes will trigger instant pain.
Just as she was planting one last row of potatoes, she heard a vehicle approaching and a voice calling her name.
"Ella! Hi Ella!" It was Elvis.
Ella gulped and tipped the brim of her hat to cover her eyes before turning around to greet an approaching Elvis...and Penny. Ooh, this is bad. Ella recognised the vehicle they rode in as a rescue tender commonly used by many fire stations, even the one in Tonypridd. She tried not to look like a deer caught in headlights as they parked and got off.
O Dio, don't let her recognise me...
"Penny, this is Ella, Ella, meet Firefighter Penny Morris, my and Sam's co-worker! Isn't she cool?" Elvis gushed. Penny laughed, "Honestly, Elvis, I'm just one of the boys, haha! And Ella, nice to meet you at last! You're the talk of the town!" She held out a hand to Ella, who shook it tentatively, thinking, 'Good, she doesn't recognise me.' In her head, she made up an idea and put it to action.
"Ah, si, so your name is-a Penny, no? Elvis, he is-a telling me all about-a you!" Elvis' jaw dropped. That's not the Ella he remembered! Sure, she had a tinge of Italian in her voice, but this is ridiculous! He started to ask, "Um, Ella, why are you tal-"
"Ah, you see, I am-a, how you say, regrowing my Auntie's-a potatoes! They is-a needing lots of-a sun and the water! See you now!" And Ella turned her back on Penny, sighing with relief as she resumed her task.
"OK, er...Let's go Elvis. Station Officer Steele must be waiting for us," a nonplussed Penny said and led Elvis back to Venus. While Penny drove, she frowned as she watched Ella through the side mirror. "Elvis," she questioned, "Does she really speak like Bella?" "N-no, not at all, I swear! Her voice has more of a mix between Italian and Welsh than completely Italian, I've heard her talk," Elvis replied.
"I thought so. I've actually heard her real voice myself," Penny said, "And why was half her face covered in front of me? All very mysterious..."
A few more reports of the Invisible Hero of Pontypandy came up the next day and the day after. Posters drawn by James revealed that Pontypandy was on the lookout for a person wearing a green poncho with a hood and a mask that covered the lower half of their face. Nobody knew, however, what colour the person's eyes definitely were, although Trevor, Dilys, Sam and Penny could have sworn that they were either green or hazel. As Pontypandy's kid detectives kept finding clues, suspects were drawn up, such as Ben Hooper, Moose Roberts and even the ghost of Pontypandy Pete (a "bright" idea made by Norman, that Mandy immediately tossed aside). Norman became more and more frustrated as their clues and suspects seemed to lead them to nowhere and his dream of eating cake seemed to be out of reach.
The firefighters were just as puzzled. Sam made up a pattern on a map of Pontypandy detailing the Hero's rescues and explained to Elvis, Penny, Tom, Helen and Steele what he had learnt so far.
"...And the most recent rescue carried out by this Invisible Hero of Pontypandy was saving Nipper from falling off a crumbling cliff not too far away from the Mountain Rescue Centre and then leaving him in front of the Wholefish Cafe. Charlie showed me the note he found attached to Nipper's collar and I have it..." He took a piece of paper out of his pocket, "...right here." Each of them read it and passed it around until it was back in Sam's hand.
On it was written, "He almost fell off a cliff. Luckily I was there. Please take better care next time. X."
As this was happening, Mandy visited Norman to see if he had made up any conclusions yet. She went upstairs to his room to see if he was there, "Norman? I've come about the Invisible Hero!"
"N-not now, Mandy, I'm, uh, busy!"
"Norman?" She put her ear to the door. Was that the sound of munching she heard?
"Norman Price, you didn't!" She barged in on him. Sure enough, Norman's legendary impatience had got the better of him and he was halfway through eating one of a pack of six strawberry cupcake with luscious white icing. Mandy recognised them as the ones Bronwen had made recently. He looked up defiantly at her, "Well, Mam said I couldn't eat cake, not CUPcakes! So there!"
Mandy sighed, "At least don't eat them all at once or you'll get sick..." And she left to call on the twins.
Throughout it all, Ella gradually integrated herself into the Pontypandy community. She made more and more friends, exchanged and created new recipes and passed on news of her progress to Bella via AirMail. She seemed happy.
Emphasis on "seemed."
"You know, love, I think Ella has been looking rather sick lately," Charlie commented to his wife that evening as they were tidying up the cafe. "She's looking paler than normal and her hands trembled as she handed me these mince pies I bought for tomorrow's breakfast." "Oh?" asked Bronwen, "Did you ask her why?" "I asked her if she was feeling well. She looked at me as though a lobster had caught her nose and said, 'I will be if you stop asking rubbish questions!'"
"How rude! But strange too," Helen Flood was having a similar conversation with her husband. "Very strange," Mike agreed, "And such a normally nice young lady too! Maybe you should try to give her a check-up, love, she looks like she could do with one!" "I think I should, Mike," Helen nodded, "I noticed that she has been taking painkillers almost every day. It's alright to have one once or twice a day if you have some kind of pain, but too many might be bad for you. And I'm worried that might be the case with Ella."
Both sets of parents did not notice that their children were eavesdropping on them, when they should have been getting ready for bed.
Later, that night..
Flames everywhere! Where are the stairs? I must get there quickly! Agh! That door's blocked! And where's all this smoke coming from?!
Just let me adjust my breathing appar...Oh no. No. No. NONONONO! I can't have forgotten! I don't forget! Why didn't Ada remind me sooner?! No time, no time to lose... Must. Find. Him.
"Daddy! Daddyyyyy!" It's him! He's upstairs! Oh no, he must be trapped in his bedroom! Where are those stairs? Ah, found them!
Which way do I go?! Why is this smoke so impossible?! *cough cough* Good thing I have this handkerchief, better put it over my mouth and tie the ends behind my ears. There we are. How could I have forgotten my own breathing equipment?! No, no, focus! Focus! Find him now!
"I'M HERE! WHERE ARE YOU?!"
Nothing but the sound of wildly crackling flames and the stench of burning building. It's hotter than Mamma's oven in here...
Finally! There's the room! I remember it! Oh no, it's locked. Remember your training now...Stand back, firmly on the ground, lift one foot up and CCCRRRRACK! The door has been broken down. Poor little thing's cornered by the flames. If I don't reach him quickly...
"I'll take you to your Daddy! I'm coming!"
Poor baby, he's so scared. I hugged him close as I leapt and bound through the fiery maze. Ran downstairs, but the door to the living room is blocked. Darn it, that leads to the front door! I'll have to go through the back door.
Hurry! Hurry! Hurry! Hu-WHOA!
Ow! I think I tripped on what's left on the carpet. I shook my head and looked down at the little boy in my arms. Still holding me tight. He's depending on me..."Don't be scared, sweetheart, we'll be fine..."
He looked at me, scared, then he looked past me and screamed in terror. WHAT?! I turned around...
Oh no! A flaming beam's going to fall onto us! My reflexes kicked in and I threw us both to safety...
He's wailing at the top of his lungs...But the beam got there first...I opened my mouth as I felt the impact, but no sound escaped it...
The last thing I remember was the worst pain that I've ever felt in my life combined with my rescuee's screams of "DAAAAAAAAADDDYYYYYY!" ringing in my ears...World...going...dark...
With a gasp, The Hero woke up abruptly...
And started to cry. Then The Hero did everything possible to make it stop.
Five more days went by with little progress on The Invisible Hero's identity. Then...
"All right," Sarah said to Mandy, "James has gone up to the Fire Station to see if Uncle Sam has found anything. Where's Norman?"
"The little cheat," Mandy retorted, "He's probably gone to steal a cake! I caught him with an entire stash three days ago!" "So that's where Mam's new cupcakes were!" Sarah giggled, then pointed to the distance, "There he comes now!" They were standing under a tree near Pandy Hill.
Norman came hurrying up to them. The girls noticed that he was wiping chocolate icing from his face and looking slightly green.
Mandy rolled her eyes and flatly exclaimed, "You did it again." "That doesn't matter *ugh* now!" Norman exclaimed, "I've got something big!"
"Go on then! Out with it!" Sarah replied excitedly. Norman sat down with his back against the tree trunk.
"Ooh, my poor tummy!" Norman groaned. He took a couple of deep breaths, then began to explain, "So I went down to Bella's Cafe, to, uh...see if Ella was there..." Mandy and Sarah smirked at him. "...And she actually was. She had just come back from a pizza delivery. And she didn't seem to...Oh, all right, I was there to take a piece of cake for myself and she almost noticed! Her cakes are soooo good!"
"We know Norman, we know," Mandy rolled her eyes as Sarah giggled behind her hand, "Now tell us...Ella came back from a pizza delivery, saw you and...?"
"She didn't notice I had taken a piece and hid it behind my back! She was kind of sweaty, her bag dropped to the floor and she was walking all weird, like a zombie with no hands. I waited till she went to the kitchen before I walked out, but then I saw something green sticking out of her bag and..."
"And what?" Sarah stopped giggling.
"I took that too," Norman reached into the bag he had with him and took out a green bundle of fabric.
Mandy and Sarah unfolded it and gasped. "The Invisible Hero's poncho!" Sarah's eyebrows shot up. "But what would...!"
"Whheew!" Mandy whistled in astonishment. Then her eyes widened in horror, "Oh no! Did you say Ella went into the kitchen, walking all weird and sweaty?!"
"Y-yeah," Norman moaned and buried his face in his bag.
"Sarah, stay with Norman! I have to call my Mam!" Mandy ran off to look for a public phone.
"Bwllarghhh!" Norman was throwing up violently into his bag. Sarah grimaced and backed away from him.
"Eeeew...I wonder where James is?"
Pontypandy Fire Station, at about the same time...
James was lurking beneath the fire station pole, listening to the conversation between the three firefighters in the mess hall above.
"I just can't seem to put my finger on it!" Sam said to Elvis, who was peeking over his shoulder as he studied the pattern he had drawn up on the map, "I know that these rescues have something in common with each other, but I can't seem to find it!"
"We'll get there, Sam, we will," Penny finished pouring up ice tea for everybody. "We've already ruled out the possibility of more than one person, so we definitely know that someone with fire safety knowledge is behind it all."
"I know, Penny, but if it is one person, then...A-ha! What if..." Sam took a pencil and ruler and started to make some diagrams on the map.
Elvis joined Penny at the kitchen counter and whispered, "He's been trying to find a solution all day. I'm surprised he hasn't even missed a rescue because of it."
"Oh well, it's not like it's harming our jobs though. This Invisible Hero has only done 1 in 4 rescues in Pontypandy compared to us," Penny whispered back, handing him a full glass. "I wish Luca was here. She would know what to do, she loves a good mystery."
"Say, why do you call her Luca, anyway?" "When we first met each other at the Academy, there were two other girls named 'Penelope' in our class, so she called me 'Morris' and I called her 'Luca.' Oh, that reminds me! I found a picture of us from a long time ago!" Penny took out a slightly grainy photo and showed it to Elvis, "This was taken by Luca's brother when we went on holiday to Llangennith Beach together!" Elvis took it and smiled.
It was a picture of two wetsuit-clad girls laughing at the camera, standing next to propped up surfboards with an arm around each other. He easily recognised Penny, whose then-long hair was tied up in a bun. The other girl was a slim brunette about the same age, with short straight hair parted to the left in a side-fringe and an eerily familiar face...
Elvis stared at it. Then it hit him like a ton of bricks. "T-th-that face!" he spluttered. "It's her! SAM!" He ran up to his friend. "Elvis, give that back!" Penny cried, "What happened?!"
"Ah, just in time you two! I found-" Sam began, but Elvis cut him off and shoved Penny's photo under his nose. "Look, Sam!"
"Oh, you look like you're having a great time, Penny!"
"Not that! Look at the other lady!"
"What do you...oh." Sam froze. He had noticed. He frowned, "Great fires of London..."
Then he remembered. "My map! I finally found the common factor!"
"What are you two on about?!" Penny shouted in exasperation. The two men looked at her with identical looks of concern. Then Sam walked up to her and put his hands on her shoulders, "Penny...there's no easy way to say this..."
James had heard enough. He high-tailed it from the fire station but as he came out, something in the near distance caught his eye.
"What is it?" Penny asked, a feeling of dread creeping up on her.
James took out his binoculars from his bag and looked. His heart skipped a beat, "Oh no..."
Elvis approached Penny from one side, "Firefighter Luca has come to Pontypandy."
"She has been here for a while," Sam nodded. "We have found our Invisible Hero."
"But whatever do you...Oh my..." Penny came to a realisation and her hands flew up to her mouth. "But you both told me that her surname is Lasagna!"
"I assumed it was," Sam said grimly.
"UNCLE SAM! ANYBODY! HELP!" James' shouts came from down below. The firefighters immediately took the pole and met him and Station Officer Steele, who had just got out of his office to see what the commotion was about.
James was fidgeting with fear and the firefighters gathered around him. "What is it, James?" Sam asked, "And why are you here?"
"Never mind that, Uncle Sam! Come quick!" He led them out and pointed.
There was smoke in the distance.
James handed his binoculars to his uncle, who looked through them.
"Great fires of London!" He uttered for the second time that day.
Bella's Cafe was on fire.
Whoo! Finally! And as always, sorry for the long wait! Last chapter coming soon!