Surprise! A new story is here, as foretold in the latest chapter of my Penny vs. The Brain Deterioration I posted earlier today (for those in Europe: yes, technically that was yesterday evening; blame insomnia, who is once again being a biatch and won't let me get a good night sleep).
This story is a little different, but it is an AU on how our favorite couple meet each other. I'm not going for the dumb blond stereotype with Penny. She's also not going to be a big ol' five, though it is more than likely she will be the one initiating any intimacy between herself and Leonard.
What I have for this story is a plan from start to finish, but I'm notorious for listening to the characters, so if any of them insist I go another direction (be it a detour or a new final destination) I will do just that.
What I do not have for this story is a schedule for posting new chapters, so be prepared for long periods of no new content.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to The Big Bang Theory. I'm just borrowing some of the toys and play with them for a while.
Penny looked up from the text book she was reading on her parent's front porch. She'd been vaguely aware of some noise in the distance, but it appeared to now be moving toward the farm. She narrowed her eyes when she saw a couple of trucks chasing each other, weaving left and right. She knew both trucks, knew the guys driving them. She glanced briefly to her right, making sure the shotgun was were it should be.
It wasn't likely the two of them would be stupid enough to try anything, not after the last time, but better safe than sorry. After all, neither of the jocks had gotten very far along the evolutionary scale, and they would definitely have an advantage over her if she didn't have protection.
She shook her head slightly as both drivers were hanging out their window yelling something at her, clearly too stupid to realize she wouldn't be able to hear them over the engine roars and the distance from the road to the front porch. She shifted her attention to the left when a car honk came from that direction and she gasped and sat up straight.
The two jocks didn't seem to notice the oncoming traffic, or realize they were taking up too much space to have the other car pass safely. She saw the other car swerve, trying to find a place on the road so that there wouldn't be a full-on collision, but the driver overcompensated and ended up beside the road and into the shallow ditch. Kurt slammed into the back corner of the victim and just drove on with his buddy, neither of them slowing down or looking back.
Penny quickly put down her book, grabbed the shotgun, just in case the two Neanderthals decided to come back her way, and ran toward the car. By the time she got there, she only spared a quick second to see where the two trucks were, but they had sped up and there was not much more than a dust cloud off in the distance. With a disgusted "ugh," she turned toward the sedan, and ran to open the driver side door.
She could see a man sitting there, his face half buried into the airbag, with a cut on his forehead, which had probably slammed into the side at some point. She yanked the door open and crouched down. "Hey, are you okay?"
"Uh, yeah?"
Well, at least he was conscious, but he sounded confused. She reached in and released the seatbelt. "Is there anything that feels broken?" Penny looked inside and didn't see any immediate signs of the poor man in someway stuck in the vehicle, or having any serious injuries besides the cut on his forehead. She leaned inside further, checking his right side, moving upward to see if he had any injuries on the other side of his face.
"Um..."
Penny looked into his eyes at that point, noticing the broken glass on the right side of his glasses. He had kind, beautiful brown eyes, but she could see there was pain in them. Not the physical pain from the accident, but deeply rooted, emotional pain and suffering. The kind she'd seen before in some of the smarter kids in high school, the ones that always got picked on by the likes of Kurt and Danny. She despised bullying, would always step in and stand up for the victims, and all she wanted to do right now was hold him and give him a hug.
But his lack of an actual response made her worry he might have a concussion, and she frowned. "Do you know who you are? Where you are?"
"Leonard," he replied. "And I know where I am. Well, not the exact location, because I'm not from around here and I was only listening to the GPS to inform me when to take a turn or exit, but I know I am a few miles from Omaha."
Penny smiled at his cute reply, and she liked the sound of his voice. "I like that name," she said.
"Really? It has the word Nerd in it. Len-NERD," he said, emphasizing the last syllable of his name, repeating it several times.
Again Penny frowned.
"I may have a concussion," Leonard suddenly seemed to realize.
Penny smiled again. "Come on, let's get you inside, so you can lay down." She grabbed his hand and helped him get out. "I'm Penny, by the way." It took a bit, but finally Leonard, stood - unsteadily - beside his car. Afraid he'd fall, she wrapped her arm around his waist, grabbed the shotgun with the other hand and helped him to the farm.
# # #
Penny glanced back once, making sure Leonard was okay. He'd insisted on remaining outside, so as not to drip blood all over the farm interior. No matter how often she insisted it would be fine, he didn't want to risk ruining the floor or furniture. So, the porch swing was his current spot, a piece of cloth she'd quickly retrieved from inside held against the cut on his forehead.
Assured that he was alright for now, she walked back toward Leonard's car, dialing Steve as she jogged over. "Hey, Steve. It's me, Penny. There's been an accident in front of the farm and I wondered if you could come pick up the car and look it over?" As she reached the car she checked the backseat first, Leonard having told her he'd put a messenger bag there. She spotted it almost immediately and opened the door. "Thanks, Steve. See you in half an hour?" She pulled the bag from the backseat and closed the door. "Great, see you then. Bye Steve!"
She disconnected the call, pocketed her cell and opened the trunk to get the suitcase out. She checked the car interior one more time for any personal belongings Leonard may have forgotten about, but didn't see any. Hanging the messenger bag on her shoulder, she picked up the suitcase and walked back to the farm. Leonard was sitting there, the cloth still pressed to his head, but he seemed to have spotted her text book and was browsing through it.
There was a small frown on his face, but Penny could tell it wasn't due to a lack of understanding the subject, but rather wondering why she was reading those. True, it wasn't very common for a cute, young, blond woman to be studying physics, especially around here, but she really wished people would look further than her appearance. Especially Leonard - who she suspected had been bullied a lot during his youth for, basically, deviating from the norm - should know better than judge a book by its cover.
She decided to not make too much of a fuss about it; it wasn't likely Leonard would think she couldn't do it, he was simply surprised. "I bet you learned nothing new from that," she said loudly as she had come close enough he could hear her.
He grinned at her, though the surprise hadn't quite left his face. On the contrary, it seemed to have grown a bit. "Not really, no," he responded. "How did you know?"
She shrugged as she put down the suitcase near the door, placing the messenger bag right next to it. "Just got that vibe from your expression. You didn't seem to be needing to exert yourself to understand what was there, unlike yours truly."
He shrugged. "It's pretty advanced stuff and I've had my share of trouble learning certain aspects. You'll get there, it's just gonna take some time before it starts to suddenly make sense. I have to confess I hadn't expected you to be studying physics."
Penny giggled. "I could tell, but I totally understand that. To be honest, I hadn't really expected to be studying physics myself. But I want to become a crime scene investigator, specializing in crash reconstruction. So, physics it is!"
Leonard looked at her in awe, then chuckled. "Did I just become your first case?"
Penny laughed. "Not much to reconstruct here, Leonard. There are several cameras installed to monitor the property fences. Your crash is safely stored on the computer in the house. Oh, we should make two copies of that, one for the cops and you might need one for your insurance company."
# # #
"This contains all the evidence," Penny said, handing over a thumb drive on which she'd put all the relevant video clips after ensuring the time stamp on each was present and correct, to the police officer that had arrived only a minute before Steve had. She'd already given her witness account. "All clips have the time stamp, which is automatically updated and synced to the time server every few hours. The last synchronization happened not even half an hour before the accident."
The officer grinned. "This level of detail will help you in your future career, Penny."
She grinned right back, dropping the professional act. "Thanks, Hank." She wanted to say more, wanted to say that Kurt and Danny were going from being a real nuisance to becoming dangerous, but her dad's friend knew that and it would be unprofessional for him to even respond to it, even if he'd agree with her. "Do you need anything more?"
He shook his head. "No, I got everything I need." He turned to Steve. "You're clear to salvage the car now, Steve."
Steve just nodded and went to his truck.
"I'll keep you updated on this," Hank said, lifting the thumb drive and his notepad. "I need the two of you to come in tomorrow morning to sign it."
"Sure, no problem," Penny said and gave him a quick hug. She watched Hank get back in his car and drive off, and then turned to Steve. He had just hooked up the wench to the back of Leonard's car.
"Those two are gettin' to be a real danger," he said on his walk back to his truck. He always said as little as possible.
Penny snorted. "No shit."
"I'll tow it for free," he declared as the car was slowly pulled out of the ditch.
"You don't have to do that," Leonard said from beside her.
Steve shrugged. "I owe Penny. The tow is free. And you'll only pay cost price for any replacement parts."
Penny rolled her eyes. "You don't owe me anything." What happened next would be forever edged in her memory: Steve saying more words than she'd ever heard coming out of his mouth before.
"Yeah, I do. You've been looking out for my baby brother since you two were twelve, always being there to support him, defend him when the likes of Kurt and Danny would bully him for being so smart. I couldn't help him since I was already done with high school. Without you, he might not even have made it through high school. You helped him so much, getting over his shyness, his awkwardness and then you even took him to the prom."
Penny shrugged, purposely not looking at Leonard, afraid he was looking at her as if she was sent from the heavens above. "I hate bullying," she said. "So, how's Josh doing?"
"Good. Got some friends. Says he's not being picked on."
Penny grinned. "Back to efficient communication, huh?"
Steve grinned back. "You know me. I'm not good with words." By now Leonard's car was secured and Steve was ready to get it back to his shop. "I'll call when I know what the costs are gonna be. Probably tomorrow morning."
Penny gave him a quick hug. "Thanks. I really appreciate you doing this."
# # #
"I should probably call a cab or something."
Penny turned toward Leonard, frowning slightly. "Why?"
"Um... because it's getting late?"
"It's not even six pm, Leonard, that's not late."
"No, but I still have to check in to my hotel, and then find someplace to eat."
"You could have dinner here first," Penny offered, wondering why on Earth she even suggested it; she was a terrible cook. "Well, I'd probably get some pizza or something," she amended. "And you can even stay here, there's plenty of room."
"Um... I don't know..."
"Really, it's fine," Penny said, trying to put him at ease. "And I kinda like having some company for tonight, plus I'd worry if nobody's there to check up on you, you know, make sure you can be woken up."
He grinned at her. "I don't think I really have a concussion."
"Better safe than sorry," Penny said, already knowing he didn't have a concussion. And she wasn't lying when she'd like some company for the night. "So, for my peace of mind, will you please accept my invitation?"
"Well, I guess so. But I have to be at the conference tomorrow by ten, so that I have time to prepare for my presentation at eleven."
Penny frowned. "Wait, are you Dr. Hofstadter?"
Leonard tilted his head slightly, looking surprised. "Yeah, Leonard Hofstadter."
"Holy crap on a cracker! I'm gonna be there in the audience. Don't worry, I'll make sure you'll be there on time. So, what do you want on your pizza?"
# # #
Penny got ready for bed, opting for sleeping shorts and a tank top. She'd gotten to know Leonard better and even though she'd been dying to ask him about the presentation, she'd decided not to and wait to hear it as he'd give it at the conference. Instead they'd talked about their childhood, though at first it had been mostly her doing the talking.
He'd been interested in farming and in awe of her accomplishments at junior rodeo and rebuilding tractor engines. She was secretly pleased at that, though she had told him she didn't see herself farming all her life. It wasn't until she'd explained about Steve's brother, Josh, and her dealings with the likes of Kurt, that he began to open up about his childhood and the bullying he'd experienced.
It broke her heart to hear that there was nobody to stand up for him, to console him or anything. His mother sounded like a horrible person, his father had been more invested in his work than in his children's wellbeing, and both his brother and sister more or less ignored him. She'd hugged him close when he admitted he'd once build a hugging machine.
Toward the end of the evening, he'd asked when her parents would be home. That had been hard, explaining to him both her parents and her sister had died in a car accident two years ago. It had triggered her interest in crime scene investigation, not immediately, obviously, but just before she went to college. She'd explained how her neighbor had offered to buy the farm land and farm, and allow her to stay here for as long as she wanted, rent free.
Eventually they'd decided to call it a night, and Penny had showed him her sister's old bedroom, explaining it was right next to hers, with a connecting bathroom in between. She made him promise if he needed anything he'd knock on her door, even if it was the middle of the night.
Not trusting Leonard would ask, she decided to check on him now. She opened the bathroom door on her side, at the same time as Leonard opened his side. He definitely was cute, in his boxers and t-shirt. Really cute. "I was just coming over to ask if everything was okay," she explained, closing her door behind her. "And to brush my teeth." She didn't fail to notice Leonard's eyes traveling up and down her body, before he resolutely focused on her face. There was no leering, just admiration and appreciation, so Penny let it slide.
"Oh, um, yeah, everything's good. Wanted to brush my teeth as well," he added, holding up his little toiletries bag.
Penny gestured to the vanity. "Plenty of room for the both of us," she said, walking over to it. She grabbed her toothbrush, then looked at Leonard as he simply stood by the door. "What's the matter? You can use my toothpaste, you know."
"Right," he said, walking over finally to stand beside her. "I got my own toothpaste, though."
Penny nodded. "Good." She reached across him to grab her own toothpaste. Their bodies touched momentarily and Penny felt his bare arm against hers. It awakened something inside her that hadn't been awoken since the accident had taken away her parents and sister. She tried to ignore it, feeling it would be better if nothing happened, and turned back with the toothpaste tube in her hand. She focused all her attention on putting some paste on her brush and placed the tube in front of her before she started brushing.
She suddenly became aware of her own reflection, noticed the effect on her breasts her more furious brushing caused and consciously slowed down her movements. She was sure Leonard was a gentleman, but it would be unfair of her to entice him like that, however inadvertently.
Once they were done, Penny cleared her throat once. "So, um, all set?"
Leonard nodded. "Yeah."
Penny nodded. "Good. So, um..." She stepped forward and hugged Leonard close. "Good night, Leonard." She should let go now, but it felt so wonderful to hug him that she held on, even hugging him tighter. Penny wasn't sure, but it must have been close to ten seconds before she released him. She saw surprise on his face. "I'll see you in the morning?"
"Um... yeah."
Penny smiled and then turned around to walk to the door to her bedroom. It wasn't until she stepped into her bed that she realized she'd done 'that hip sway thing' as she'd walked away from him and groaned softly. What the hell was wrong with her?
A/N: Yes, what it wrong with Penny? Why is she not laying next to Leonard right now?