Hey guys! Look at how fast this chapter's going up! Thank you so much for all your positive reviews. I don't think there's been one negative comment on this story yet (maybe it'll stay that way?) And I want to thank everyone so much for the constructive criticism!

I want to say a special thank you to those of you who took the time to review. Some of you put a lot of thought into your answers, and I had a great deal of fun reading them.

There was one comment saying that the tantrums were too cowardly, which really made me think about how this story was going. And I can totally see you point. Yes, Penny's tantrums are very childish and cowardly, but I can see her acting in two ways; The way she is now, or completely submissive, and basically accepting her fate, and curling up in a corner.

I don't know about you, but I think the second one would be a pretty boring story...

Anyways, that was just my explanation.

This chapter has a bit of a turning point for Penny and The Doc's relationship, so Enjoy!

Blondiebelle. livejoirnal. com 31 Days of Alice

Hours later, the lock clicked open. Penny started at the sound, and fervently prayed the Doctor wouldn't come in. Of course, if the universe had any intention of listening to her, it wouldn't let her be in this position in the first place, let alone make her beg it to keep him out.

"What do you want." Penny grumbled, not having the patience to deal with the Doctor anymore.

"I just wanted to know if you were hungry." He asked, all traces of anger from earlier gone. This irked Penny, it was no fun to fight someone that was not willing to fight back.

"Sure." She answered sullenly.

"Do you want anything particular?" He asked, seriously annoying Penny with how nice he was being.

"To get back to my life?" She replied sarcastically, but it did the trick. The Doc fumbled backwards through the doorway, tripping over the slight step, before shutting the door so Penny was left alone in her misery.

Until he came back with a pizza, fifteen minutes later.

"I don't like this arrangement anymore then you do Penny." He said, setting the cardboard box down on the bed, and sitting next to it.

"But it doesn't have to be bad." Penny turned on him.

"No, it does. You don't know anything about me. There was no way I was going to just wake up and be okay with living a life in captivity, when my future is in the hands of one of the most evil men on earth."

"I got a vegetarian pizza, because I know you don't eat meat." The doctor offered, purposefully shaming Penny into realizing she was wrong.

"You shouldn't assume things, Penny. It's you that doesn't know anything about me." Doctor Horrible continued, fully aware of Penny's embarrassment.

"Of course, if you could get off your self-pitying high horse, we may even be able to be friends." He knew they could be. He was still Billy on the inside, even if Penny could never know that.

They ate in silence, Dr. Horrible making faces at the pizza, and vowing never to order an entirely veggie pie again.

"What did the pizza do to you?" Penny asked, giggling at the faces she'd been watching her captor make for the better part of nine minutes.

"This is gross. I can't believe they make stuff like this." Dr. Horrible put down his piece of pizza and grimaced. Penny laughed again.

"See, we can do this." Dr. Horrible encouraged Penny, smiling. "It won't be that hard." But Penny wasn't really ready to give up yet.

"I'm not so sure." She finally voiced her insecurities. Dr. Horrible gave her a long cold look, making Penny cringe under it's intensity. He stood, sharply and stalked angrily out of the room without another word.

Penny wasn't really scared anymore, she figured that he would have killed her already, if he had a mind too.

Now she just wondered why he got to have mood swings, when she couldn't. It wasn't like she had any unreasonable demands, and she didn't believe for a second that his life was in danger because of her. Nothing in her situation added up, Penny thought sleepily.

That night, she dreamed of Billy.

Penny opened the door to the laundromat, and paused, it was uncharacteristically quiet. She looked around nervously, and tried to step back out of the building, she was getting a really uneasy feel from the tomblike building. But every time she took a step back, she moved one step foreword instead, towards her usual washing machine. Penny looked around. All the Wednesday regulars were there, at their usual machines, seemingly going about their own personal business, but when Penny looked closer, they were all frozen in place. Penny panicked, terrified of what caused this phenomenon, and the fear she felt seemed to hang around her like a black mist.

"Penny?" She sighed in relief. Billy was calling her, and she already felt a little bit safer. She turned towards his voice, and found herself the only target of a futuristic looking gun.

"Penny, Penny!" He was calling, mockingly. Penny turned back, only to find that the laundromat had become the homeless shelter, and she was staring into the horrifying blank gaze of an immobile Captain Hammer. She turned back, and Billy, who had donned a white lab coat and familiar goggles, pulled the trigger on the gun, it's ray hitting her square in the chest.

"Penny, Penny, wake up. It's not real!" Penny opened her eyes, for the first time glad to be in Dr. Horrible's bedroom.

Dr. Horrible himself took his hands off her shoulders, satisfied that she was up.

"Care to tell me why you were screaming like Lieka at three in the morning?" He asked, helping Penny sit up.

"It was just a dream?" Penny asked, still shaking from the fear. Dr. Horrible raised an eyebrow, making Penny feel silly for asking. She was about to tell him to get out, that she was a big girl, and she didn't need anyone to save her from the bogey man, but when she opened her mouth to speak, she started sobbing instead.

Dr. Horrible timidly drew her head to his shoulder, and she latched on to him, making him jump in surprise.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He asked awkwardly, not used to dealing with crying women. She shook her head against his t-shirt, which was now thoroughly wet. Dr. Horrible had no idea what to do, so he just held Penny in silence, until her crying stopped. He gently disentangled himself, and stood up. Penny was half asleep again anyways, so he figured he'd just sneak out.

"Stay?" He heard her ask, and he turned back to look at her, to judge if she seriously wanted him to, or if she was just sleep talking.

She looked fully alert, and fully embarrassed.

"Really?" Dr. Horrible wondered if he actually sounded like the squeaky twelve year old he heard in his head. Penny nodded, her face nearly as red as her hair.

"You don't have to if you don't want to, but..." She trailed off, biting her fingernail to hide her nerves. Dr. Horrible knew this would end badly, anything that involved him and Penny in less then lucid states would end badly, so he opted to sit in the chair next to the bed instead. He was more then a little bit surprised when Penny looked disappointed at his choice. Penny fell asleep quickly, unexpectedly holding his hand for comfort, and for the first time since she'd woken up, Dr. Horrible thought he could make this work.

Tell me what you think! I'd love to see that dream in a video or something *hint*

No, actually, if anyone's wants to do fan art, I'll write you a story. Pinky promise.

Okay, that's kind of awkward.

So tell me, have you ever been totally surprised by what someone knew about you? Let me know in a review!