"Move it Schneider," Penelope says prodding him in the back as they climb the stairs. "I've got the VA on hold and Jolene might pick up."
Schneider looks over his shoulder, "Aren't they the ones who have you on hold?"
"Same difference." She waves him off with her good arm before shoving past him into his apartment.
"I'm pretty sure it isn't." He trails after her blinking furiously.
"Ay, Schneider, you want my help or not?"
"Yes," He sighs. "C'mon, my costume trunk is in my bedroom." Against her better judgment, she goes with him waiting for the innuendo that is sure to follow but surprisingly never came.
"What no sex joke?"
"I'm not that narrow-minded, Penelope." He sounds a little offended. "Besides it's not like you and I are ever going to happen."
Penelope stares back at some bizarre painting hanging on Schneider's wall like it's art before turning back to him. "And why is that?"
Schneider shrugs, "You have two kids. You're worried about your mother. You don't want or need another guy who is one drink away from falling off the wagon. Especially not after Victor. Who, by the way, you're still not over."
They stop in front of his bedroom door.
"Wow," Lupe says tugging at her wedding ring. "You've actually thought about this."
Schneider shrugs again, "Sure. You're hot." He says unapologetically. Penelope rolls her eyes. "You're tough. You're not afraid to call me out whenever I act like a straight white guy. We get along." Lupe raised a brow. "For the most part. Your kids like me. I like them. I love your mom. Of course, I've thought about it."
He pushes open his bedroom door, "But it's not like you've ever taken me seriously."
She knew they'd once had a flirty thing going. It'd appeared the first day they first met. Even her mom had seen it. He'd shown them the unit, selling her on the neighborhood like a practiced real estate agent. They'd joked around, flirted a lot, Penelope feeling comfortable enough to challenge him on the price. The chemistry had been so palpable that Lydia had taken extra care to guilt trip/remind Lupe that she was still a married woman when Schneider had gone off to get to the lease. But nothing had ever come of it. It'd quickly become clear that Schneider had more than one willing woman at any given time. And like he had pointed out, she wasn't over Victor.
"You've never given me a reason to take you seriously!"
Schneider gives her a radiant smile, made even more annoying by his ridiculous get up. "Exactly."
Frustrated and annoyed Penelope stands in the hallway grumbling to herself trying to process everything Schneider just dumped on her. It wasn't like he was the most emotionally available person in the world. She sure wasn't but she wasn't going around tossing around what if's and poking at things that were better left alone. Squaring her shoulders, she walks into Schneider's bedroom finding him digging through a giant chest.
"Here, let me help." Penelope motions for him to get up. "I'm sure your eye is killing you."
"Thanks, Pen." He stands, rubbing his eye. "I couldn't really see anything without my glasses anyways."
"I thought those were for show." She pushes aside a blond wig and a box of cards.
"No, the doctor says I need those."
"Being old sucks huh." Something glints behind a pair of handcuffs.
"Can't suck any more than that shoulder."
For a moment she forgot all about her shoulder, "Yeah, you got that right." She finds the magnifying glass conveniently next to an eye patch which she also grabs. Straightening, she set the eye patch on his nightstand.
"I need to wash my hands." Nursing 101 bacteria caused infections. Schneider points her to a big brown door. Pulling open the door she walks into a gorgeous spacious bathroom. Not that she expected any different. Schneider owns the building, of course, he could have the most heavenly bathroom in the world. She would kill to soak in a regular bath let alone a clawfoot bath with about a million knobs and what looks like a very promising showerhead. She washes her hands amazed at how well he decorated everything. She knows Schneider, there was no way he paid anyone to do this. She bypasses using any of Schneider's impossibly fluffy towels. There was no way to know whether they had been used by bimbos or not.
She walks back in to find Schneider waiting for her in the same spot. His bathroom only making her hate him a little more.
"Sit down, I can't see anything with you towering over me." Their height difference is such an annoyance. At least with Victor, she'd been able to look him in the eye.
Schneider did as asked without question or argument, pausing only to take off his ridiculous hat.
"It casts a shadow," he says by way of explanation. His hair is ruffled, no longer a square of gels and hair care products. Penelope can't help but stare. Without his hat and glasses, he looks softer. Less hipster, more normal. It's unnerving.
"Whatever." Penelope mutters more to herself than him. She snatches the magnifying glass off the table and hands it to Schneider. "Hold this." Grabbing his arm, she positions him to where she wants it.
"I only have one arm right now." She brandishes the Q-tip she swiped from his medicine cabinet like a weapon. "Don't move. I don't want to poke your eye out."
Schneider snorts, "You would love to poke my eye out."
"You're right," Penelope smiles, "I totally would."
She's right handed so getting the glitter out of his eye is proven to be a difficult task, but she gives Schneider credit. He holds still and is surprisingly quiet. She tries again to catch the elusive piece of stage glitter only to lose her balance and almost poke Schneider's eye out. There's no way she's going to be able to do this without anything to balance on and it would be stupid for him to go all the way to the E.R. for something as simple as glitter. Gritting her teeth, she lifts her right arm and settles it on Schneider's shoulder, breathing through the sharp pain that shoots through her shoulder.
After the mortar had hit the O.R. they'd kept operating while the world had erupted in chaos around them. Holding the Private's hand in her own hurting one she'd stood there until they'd finished removing the bullet from the leg of a soldier who'd been shot. She'd refused to leave, her only thought that if Victor had been lying on some table somewhere she'd want the team to finish. All the yelling and the explosions hadn't been able to deter her. It was only after the doctor had assured her that the kid was going to make it that she'd allowed herself to be afraid. Only then had she feared for her life.
Inhaling, she pushes the memory aside doing her best to ignore the sudden cold sweat. Compared to that removing glitter from her landlord's eye should be a piece of cake. Schneider watches her intently, seemingly aware of her mood shift. His magnified eye is worried, but he doesn't say anything.
Instead, he sits there patiently waiting for her. It's eerie how he knows when she needs to vent and when she just needs to be left alone. Raising the Q-tip, she steels herself again, nudging Schneider she places one of her knees between his thighs. He complies instantly, allowing her to balance on his shoulder easier. His support is silent but there. After another tense minute, she manages to snag the purple glitter on the end of the swab.
"Got it!" She holds the stick triumphantly.
"Thank god," Schneider sets down the glass.
She shows it to Schneider, "Next time, stay away from glitter."
"Stage sparkle." Penelope sends him a glare.
"I will, I will" Schneider promises laughing softly, the crow's feet around his eyes crinkling merrily. She hates that they only make him look more endearing. It's unfair that men somehow manage to look better as they grow older. Men got to be fine wine while women became snowmen.
Up close she can see the streaks of gray in his hair and beard. She's always had a thing for beards. It's one of the reasons she went out with Victor in the first place. He'd looked like a man in a sea of boys. Afraid of where her thoughts are straying Penelope tries to straighten but Schneider gently holds her in place.
"You okay Pen?" He asks quietly, his electric blue eyes searching hers.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Lupe forces a smile, "It's just an old injury."
Schneider doesn't smile back, "I wasn't asking about that."
Penelope looks away. It's so easy to pretend, to joke around like everything is okay but there's no way around the fact they're both fucked up. Up until a couple of weeks ago, she'd still been in denial about her PTSD, fighting the way she'd been raised while trying to keep herself and everyone else afloat. And she knew Schneider still struggled with sobriety with almost no support from anyone.
So yeah, maybe they're not in the best place to do whatever this is. But there's something about him that's sucking her in, stupid attire and stage sparkle aside.
"Promise me you'll take care of yourself, Penelope."
Leaning closer she scoffs, "Don't tell me, you worry about me."
"Of course, I do Penelope," Schneider whispers, completely serious. He gently grips her arm, "It's all I do." The intensity in his eyes is terrifying. The lack of jokes and teasing throwing her. Schneider doesn't do serious. He does fun. He does casual. But never serious.
Their eyes lock and everything slows down. Penelope can hear each and every beat of her heart, each thump faster than the last. The heat from his thighs bleeds through her thin joggers making her aware of just how close Schneider is.
When she looks back on it she'll blame it on her shoulder, on the stupid painkillers, on anything but herself.
She kisses him.
It's her first kiss in over a year. Her first kiss with someone who isn't Victor and it's slow and tentative and as awkward as she thought it would be. She didn't expect the world to fall off its axis but the lukewarm response she gets from Schneider makes her wonder if she misjudged everything that's happened since she walked through that door. She breaks away, breathing heavier than she should be, an embarrassed blush rising. Schneider sits still below her. His eyes open in shock.
Shit.
"Look, Schneider I—" She doesn't get to finish.
He grabs her face and kisses her.
Their first kiss is quickly forgotten. This time he's anything but complacent. His kisses are hungry. Bold just like him. She should be scared by how quickly her body responds. He bites her bottom lip with those perfectly white teeth and her mouth opens of its own volition. He tastes like mints she thinks vaguely.
Without missing a beat Schneider tilts his head back, giving her better access. She follows greedily forgetting her shoulder. She's half sitting half kneeling on him and it's still not close enough. She leans in trying to get closer but then her shoulder fucking throbs and it's a dose of reality.
Gasping she breaks the kiss, pushing herself off Schneider she cradles her arm.
"Shit Pen, I forgot." Schneider stands up and tries to help her.
She moves further away from him. "That never happened."
It can't have.
They stand there breathing heavily. "Here," she tosses him the eyepatch, "Put that on so you don't irritate your eye even more."
"Penelope." He doesn't even try to catch it. His expression pained.
"I have to get back to Jolene." She makes out of his apartment like a bat out of hell. It's a miracle she doesn't trip on her way down the stairs. Penelope collapses on the bottom step.
"Shit," she rakes her hand through her hair. She sits there another thirty seconds catching her breath. Right now, she doesn't need the third degree from her mom.
She doesn't know how she's going to avoid him without making it painfully obvious to her family that something happened. She can't suddenly refuse to let him eat with them, or take Alex to baseball, or help Elena with whatever crazy project she's put together. She's screwed.
Standing up Penelope runs her hand through her hair again attempting to smooth it down. She'll just have to avoid being alone with him she decides. With her mother and kids as a buffer, it shouldn't be that hard. She could go on a date, just to let him know it meant nothing.
"Shit." She breathes again. Life just got a whole lot more complicated.