So I was intending to write this for LiveJournal's BigBangBigBang Challenge, just like I did "The Long Road Parallel" last year. I'm still going to do that challenge; it's so much fun, but I wrote too much of this fic too fast, and I know that I won't be able to wait until August to publish it. So here's the beginning, I have about eight chapters written already.

"Thank you, have a great night," Penny said, smiling as the family of four left the restaurant. She looked down at the table with a smile. She was no math wizard, but that was at least a twenty percent tip. Since she'd taken her own advice that she'd given to Sheldon during the Friend Making Disaster of 2009 and been more pleasant to the customers even if it was late and she was tired, her tips had become much better.

She smiled as she took the family's tip from the table. She was so much more financially stable since she'd started putting out the extra effort. Of course, it helped that her boyfriend still let her 'piggyback' on his apartment's WiFi.

"Heading out?" Cheryl asked, coming from the kitchen.

"Just about to," Penny said. "Do you need a ride?"

"Yeah. Stupid Brad won't come pick me up since I puked in his car."

"I wouldn't drive you around if you were as drunk as you were that night, either," Penny said. "I'd call you a cab."

"Well, I'm sober, so can you take me to Brad's?" Cheryl asked.

"Yeah, hang on," Penny said.

"Thanks, he doesn't want me to go home alone since that serial killer got that woman out at Long Beach."

"Yet he won't come out to get you?" Penny asked, raising an eyebrow. "Sounds like a great boyfriend."

Cheryl shrugged. "Just because you've got gold doesn't mean I can't be happy with my buccaneer."

"What?" Penny asked, cocking her head.

"You know Fool 's Gold. Pirate."

"It's not pronounced like that, Cheryl," Penny said, rolling her eyes. She heading into the back room to clock out. "But I like your attempt at making a comparison."

"Thanks!" Cheryl said, grinning. The two women headed out to Penny's car, throwing playful insults at one another. Cheryl slid into the passenger side and put on her seat belt in response to a look from Penny. "When did you become so safe?"

"Since always," she joked, putting the car into gear and pulling out onto the road.

Their friendly banter ceased as they drove, it was dark and Penny was concentrating on the road. "Where does this Brad guy live again?" She asked, slowing down each time a side street came up.

"Three more down on the left," Cheryl said. "In the trailer, remember?"

Penny raised her eyebrows, knowing that her friend couldn't see her. She'd dated her share of guys who lived in trailers, back in Nebraska, and experience told her that they weren't the best kind of guys-especially if they regularly set it on fire. She decided to give Brad the benefit of the doubt and assume he hadn't ever set his house on fire.

"Right here," Cheryl said. "You can let me out-that light is his trailer."

"Okay," Penny said, stopping the car. She waited until she saw her friend enter the trailer before pulling out and heading back up the road; she always did when she took her home. She tried for her friend's sake, but she didn't like the kind of guys Cheryl dated, and even though waiting to make sure she was inside made Cheryl angry sometimes, it made Penny feel better to know that she had gotten from one place to another safely. That way, on the off chance that anything happened, Penny could verify that she'd gotten to her boyfriends...place of residense.

She was almost back to the Cheesecake Factory when the light rain that had started up as she was approaching Brad's trailer let up, and as she sat at the final red light, she turned her windshield wipers off. With the rain, the sky had darkened, and all that could be seen aside from headlights was the area behind the McDonald's, where there was a streetlight. Penny looked over at that lit area and saw a hunched figure by a few dumpsters. He had something in a bag, and it looked like he was struggling to lift it and place it inside. He was shirtless, and a skinny guy; the streetlight that shown down on him clearly showed his arms, which weren't much wider than Sheldon's cousin Leo's. On his back was a tattoo that looked to be of a five pointed red star, and it took up all of his back, the bottom two points ending where his jeans began. Penny rolled her eyes. They shouldn't hire skinny people to lift what looked like a very heavy bag into dumpsters, it didn't make any sense.

Behind Penny, someone honked their horn, and she jumped, realizing that the light had already turned green. "Sorry," she said in an annoyed voice, even though she knew that the person who had blared their horn couldn't hear her. She wasn't mad; she'd lost focus, so for once she didn't stick her hand out of the window to give the finger to the person who'd honked at her.

It was nearly fifteen minutes later when she got home, parked her car, and headed up to her apartment. Leonard was already asleep, an arm over his eyes, and she didn't want to wake him. She eased into the bed and maneuvered herself slowly and carefully until she was lying in a position that she felt she could sleep in.

The phone jolted both Leonard and Penny awake. "What?" Leonard was groggy, he rubbed at his eyes and fumbled for his glasses. "What time is it?"

"Four in the morning. Sorry!" Penny said, looking at the time on her phone before answering. "Hello?"

"Penny!"

"Cheryl?"

"No shit, Sherlock, you have Caller I.D."

"Sorry." Penny looked at Leonard, who had switched on the lamp, and made an apologetic face before continuing. "What's up?"

"The serial killer!"

"What about him?"

"He's killed another woman! Dumped her in the garbage behind the McDonald's by the Cheesecake Factory. It's all over the news!"

Penny jumped up, throwing the covers back and running into the living room, ignoring Leonard's questioning remarks. She fumbled with the remote and switched on the television.

"…and I saw someone running off. I didn't get a good look at him, but I'm pretty sure it was a man. That's when I looked in the dumpster, because the cover wasn't on it."

The person speaking was wearing a McDonald's employee shirt; Penny presumed he was the manager. The picture than switched to the channel's main reporter. "If anyone has any information relating to the crime, which we do believe to be related to the murders of…"

"Isn't that terrifying, Penny? Penny? ...Penny?"

Penny didn't hear Cheryl. The phone had lowered from her ear when she recognized the building that the man had been interviewed in front of. Now she held it in both hands, which rested at her stomach.

Leonard came up behind her. "What was that all about, love bug?" he asked, reaching around her to pull a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Did you see?" she asked.

"The serial killer?" Leonard asked. "Just about what you saw. That happened so close to your work…" She felt his arms slide around her stomach as his voice trailed off.

"I know," she said in a whisper. "I saw him dump the body."

Chapter two will be up sometime soon-it's already written but I have a lot of studying to do...finals this week! Oy. I'll get it up as soon as I have a few minutes.