Author's note: there's really no way to say this other than I'm totally and indescribably sorry. There is absolutely no excuse for not writing in over a year. I kept coming back to the next chapter over and over again, trying to get it just right, trying to figure out where I planned on going, and it took 7 months to finally figure out what I wanted the next chapter to center around, and now it's taken 5 months to figure out who was going to participate in the chapter. As a matter of fact, inspiration didn't come until LATE, LATE last night, about 3 minutes after I had written out the idea for a 17 chapter Penny-centered fic. Now the rest of the story is pretty much planned out, as well as the aforementioned 17 chapter one. Oh, and my computer crashed a week ago. Again, no excuses!

So, here it is:

The Psychic Vortex Continuum

Diana Crescent

Chapter 7: The Oneirological Case Study

With Christmas a week away, Penny had been buying presents for family and friends, though Sheldon's had taken the longest to figure out. She was still in love with him—very much so—but wasn't making too much of a move in that direction, thanks greatly to Amy Farah Fowler becoming so ingrained into their routines. She was Sheldon's first girlfriend, even if they weren't planning on admitting it, and Penny wasn't going to mess that up, for either of them. Even their I-talian Thrusdays had come to an end. Amy had quickly become a very good friend—her "bestie" after Sheldon—and had helped her greatly in many ways. The least of which was understanding why Leonard dating Priya Koothrappali hurt so much.

Amy, able to figure it out first (no surprise there), said that Penny was more upset that Leonard was with a woman who could be what he wanted and needed, while Penny had yet to find the person who gave her that. Penny wasn't about to correct her bestie on that piece of misinformation, but understood well enough what she was saying. Penny was busy pinning away for Sheldon, who was busy enjoying time with Amy, who fit him so much better than Penny could herself. It also had something to do with now that Priya was in their lives, Leonard was banned from seeing Penny (even if they were only friends) and since that happened, Penny didn't get to go over to 4A like she used to. It was as if she were slowly being written out of the boys' lives. And that hurt.

She took a deep breath, and centered her focus back on ribbon tying. It had taken a how-to book, a useless piece of wood that looked like a paper-towel holder, and three youtube videos, but she'd finally figured out how to make the giant bows she loved so much. Burnadette's present now wrapped, she started on Raj's.

A knock on the door startled her, bringing her newest ribbon to a mess in seconds. It really was much more difficult than the videos showed.

"Just a second," she called out, quickly stashing the presents into her closet, in case it proved to be one of her friends home from the movies early.

The knock sounded again, just as she reached the door. When she pulled it open, she was surprised to find a teenage girl with long blonde hair (with very cool pink streaks) and blue eyes standing on the other side. Not surprised because there was someone on the other side, but because that person was her baby sister.

The boys, plus the three significant others, were all coming in from said trip to the movies. She knew this because Raj had begged her to go (via text) and be his significant other. They were more surprised to watch Penny's reaction to her currently unknown visitor.

She screamed. She jumped. She cried. She wrapped Nell tightly in her arms and swayed back and forth, happy to see her sister, and whispered her name over and over again.

Nell's reaction had been very similar to her own; both of them overcome in their joy, they completely ignored the others.

"Judging by what some might call a great over-reaction, I am making the assumption that you know this person, Penny?" Amy asked, frowning slightly.

"Of course she knows her! I've never seen Penny act that way with a stranger," Sheldon said, shaking his head at the obviousness of it all.

"You weren't there that time we all got drunk back at Halloween, Sheldon," Burnadette said quietly.

Penny laughed and smiled, pulling back, put her hands on Nell's face and kissed her on each cheek. "That was one time. Everyone, this is Elizabeth Elaine Briere, my baby sister. We call her Nell."

Nell waved enthusiastically.

The others were a little less enthusiastic. Burnadette smiled and shook hands while the others waved.

Penny started to introduce everyone, pointing them out."Nelly, this is the whole gang. Sheldon and Amy—we call them Shamy-"

"Cute!" Nell gasped, as both Sheldon and Amy began to quickly correct that they were not together like that.

"Leonard and Priya. Priya is Raj's sister. Then there's Howard and Burnadette."

"Nice to meet you all," Nell said brightly, smiling a very similar smile to Penny's.

"Welcome to Pasadena, Nell. May I ask what has brought you here?" Sheldon asked, seeing the love and similarities between the two sisters.

"When Penny said she couldn't come home for Christmas, we decided it would be a good idea to bring some home to Penny. So here I am. Kitt wanted to come too, but he's got cows."

"Who's Kitt?" Priya asked.

"My brother," Penny and Nell said automatically, then giggled at each other.

"I thought you only had one brother," Howard said, confused.

"Lord no. Tammy, Johnny, and I are full siblings. Patrick and Abigail are my step-siblings from my father's marriage, and Nell and Kitt are technically my half-siblings from my mama's marriage to Doc."

Everyone was left with a semi-confused look on their face, while Penny and Nell chatted quietly about supper plans. Penny put Nell's stuff in her room, and put on some shoes and a coat.

"Well, you guys have fun!" Penny shouted, dragging her sister down the stairs towards the night life of Pasadena.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

That night, after giggling and talking, when the two of them had finally drifted off to sleep around three in the morning, Penny jerked awake, a sudden fear in the pit of her stomach. She rolled over to check on Nell, only to find her whimpering and crying in her sleep.

Penny softly shook her awake. As she did, she made a quiet shh noise, trying to soothe her sisters tears. She simply wrapped Nell in her arms, as the now awake girl sobbed in arms, and stroked her hair. The two eventually fell back asleep.

She didn't think anything about it, until it happened the next night and the next.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Penny sat in the middle seat on the brown leather couch in 4A, sandwiched between Nell and Sheldon. It was a rare night where she got to be with all of her friends. Apparently Christmas miracles could happen. Priya's heart grew three sizes this morning when Penny gave her a red cashmere scarf. Priya had even gone so far as to get Penny a pink cardigan. Priya had won her friendship though, when she'd given Nell a beautiful book on Gothic architecture. It had spread pretty quickly that Nell wanted to be an architect, based on the other gifts she got.

She wasn't planning on ruining this moment, this day, for anything. Except she couldn't quite stop staring at Nell with watchful eyes.

She hadn't called her mother yet, to ask what the hell had happened to her sister. For one, because if something had happened to Nell, she'd probably already know about it; and for two (and probably the more important reason) she didn't think she could afford to go to jail right now, because if someone hurt her sister—there was no question—she was going to hurt them back.

"Penny?"

"Yes Moonpie?" She asked gently, loving to tease him almost as much as she loved the gift he'd given. It was a globe shaped necklace with the night sky painted on it. Apparently he'd abducted Nell for three hours while she was at work. Nell had thrown a pillow at her when she'd gotten home, but had sighed over his care for picking the present, only telling Penny, You'll love it.

Sheldon's jaw ticked a little, but after nearly two years, he said little. She wasn't going to stop. Besides, he'd just gotten a real movie prop from The Dark Knight that was signed by Christopher Nolen and Christian Bale. How she'd managed it, he couldn't figure out, but he didn't care. It was almost as good as his Leonard Nimoy napkin."Why do you keep glaring at your sister? One would think you were angry with her, but you show little of the other signs of anger."

"I'm not angry with Nell. I'm worried."

Nell was staring at her, eyebrows raised, but smiled weakly back. Understanding far more quickly than Sheldon (who, just like Tammy had said, was perfect for her sister).

"Why are you worried?" He, not giving Penny time to answer, leaned over. "You're not ill, are you? If you are, I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

Nell smiled. She was beginning to get the whole Dr. Whack-a-doodle thing. Though Penny said it a lot more lovingly than Nell thought it.

"I'm not sick."

"She has nightmares. Every night. I want to know why."

Nell said, leaned against her sister, and cuddled. Penny, always the mama bear, wrapped her sister securely in her arms.

"You promise not to laugh, Pen?"

"Do you think I'm going to laugh?"

Nell sighed. "No."

"Well?"

"I've been having nightmares—real bad ones Pen. And I don't know why."

Penny nearly responded with an 'obviously' but thought that might sound too much like Sheldon. "What are they about?"

Nell's eyes watered, and she shut them tight. "I keep dying."

"Dying?" Penny asked, confused, while the others raised their eyebrows.

"One night, I dreamed I jumped off a skyscraper. Another night, I dreamed I was electrocuted. Last night—last night was the worst Pen. I dreamed I was high up in a tree, knotted up in a long rope, and I slipped. I hung myself Penny."

"Oh honey. It's okay."

"You don't think I'm going to die, do you?" Nell sobbed out.

Penny, for the life of her, did feel like laughing a little. There was some relief in knowing they were just nightmares, and not brought on by some nightmarish real-life occurrence. "No, baby. You're not going to die." Lord help her, there was somewhat of a giggle at the end of that.

"But Daddy had those dreams about Sammy, and they-"

"You're too young to remember exactly the story behind that. Daddy and Mama always put stock in re-occurring dreams, because Daddy saved Sammy's life. You were only 'bout two."

Penny sighed, squeezed Nell a little closer, and then settled in to tell the story like it should have been told.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

A ten-year-old Penny sat across from her step-father (a formality only; anyone who knew Penny knew she had only one daddy, and that daddy was Doc) at the breakfast table, eyeballing him critically. In the five years she'd known him, and the nearly four they'd been related, Doc had not once looked like he could use a nap, especially not one right after breakfast. He was always a morning person—infuriatingly so. He'd whistle right along with the birds at dawn if her Mama would just let him. However, for the last three or four mornings, he looked like he hadn't slept at all. She wasn't the only one worried, either. Johnny had taken to looking up symptoms Doc may or may not have been experiencing. Currently, though, the only definite one on the list was not getting enough sleep.

Their mother, on the fifth day, finally made it clear to them.

"Bad dreams again?" Lexa asked, setting his coffee down in front of him.

Doc just nodded. He hugged Lexa, his face to her stomach, just as he did every morning.

"Whadya dream?" Johnny asked, wondering what could possibly shake Doc's cool enough that he wasn't sleeping. According to Johnny, the only man tougher or better than Doc, was Pap. Something that Doc didn't mind in the least.

Penny briefly thought about that difference between Doc and her father again. Where their father would have been offended and probably never would have let go of the anger from that offense, Doc would just smile and clap Johnny on the back, seeing the compliment for what it was. Pap was the bees-knees as far as his grandchildren were concerned, and was a man Doc greatly respected. The fact that Doc had Pap's love and respect was no little feat (yet again, something Bill Bradley had never accomplished), and Penny thought it said a great deal about all three of them.

She was quickly pulled out of her thoughts, as Doc answered.

"I keep dreaming that Sammy's not doing well."

Sammy, better known to Penny as Samuel Dylan Marley (the second), was the newest addition to their family. He was four and a half months old, blue-eyed, and black headed. He was Tammy and Jonah's first born, and Penny had gotten to name him. Jonah and the Marley tribe were pleased with the name, but only Tammy actually knew how Penny had really managed to come up with that one. He was as cute as a button, and was one of the three lights of Penny's life. Her two-year old siblings being the other two.

He was also coming for his second visit in two days. His first had been on their (and Tammy's) coinciding spring break.

"What do you mean?" She asked, slightly panicked.

Doc sighed, seeing he'd upset his blonde-haired daughter. "I'm sure it's fine. Just a bad dream."

"But what if it ain't—isn't!" June Bug's lessons still kicking in.

Doc smiled. "It's just a dream. It doesn't mean anything."

"If it's a dream, why are you worried about it?" She shot back, seeing more than he wanted her to.

Doc and Lexa took a glance at each other, and sighed. Since June Bug's death, Penny had been far more cautious about her family's well-being. The thought of having to lose someone frightened her to pieces, and she was swiftly becoming very protective of all of her siblings (biological, at least; Penny didn't think there'd be any way she'd ever like Patrick or Abigail, no matter how much her father tried) and said siblings' children.

"Because it's a really bad dream."

Penny took a deep breath. Bad dreams she could deal with. She'd had a few in her time, especially while losing and after losing June Bug, but the thing that made it better was always talking about it.

She gave her parents a very grown up look, and simply said, "Do you want to talk about it?"

Doc smiled, and opened his arms. She went around the table, while Johnny shook his head. He always had some amused smile on his face when it came to Penny. She'd asked him about it once, not too long before Sammy was born, and he'd simply told her, that sometimes she surprised him with how much she knew.

Now seated in Doc's lap, he sighed and drew his eyebrows together. "It's the same every night, and it's been happening since we saw him spring break. I keep dreaming that he's locked in a tank of water, but no one seems to notice. Sometimes, I don't think anything of it, but the worse he gets, the more only I notice. It's like I can't get there it time, even though I'm right there."

Penny raised one eyebrow. "So, basically, he's drowning."

Doc nodded sadly, and whispered. "Basically."

Penny sat quietly, thinking on what it could mean. Johnny also sat quietly, his eyebrows drawn together and lips pursed. "Do you think that this is your brain subconsciously telling you there's something wrong with Sammy that we aren't seeing, but you are because you're a doctor?"

Penny turned to her brother. He'd gone to therapy for a few months after their crash, trying to get over what happened to her, and since then, he'd studied the brain and psychology quite a bit. This sounded like more of his psychology mumbo-jumbo, and Penny rarely followed what he said when he talked about it.

Doc, however, could usually follow it. He began nodding. "Possibly, but what could he have?"

Penny sighed. "Well, drowning means water and breathing. Breathing means your lungs." Johnny gave her a look that said "Duh!", but Doc looked at her like she'd struck gold, but still seemed to not be seeing her.

"Lexa, honey, call Tammy. I have questions I need to ask her."

Two hours later, Tammy was at the doctor, confirming that Sammy had Chronic Lung Disease—which sounded foreboding to Penny. She was told however, that many babies have it and most of them outgrow it. There was really nothing to worry about now that they caught it.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Everyone seemed to be paying attention. She was a little embarrassed by that, but Nell seemed to have quieted.

Penny sighed. "So you see, dreams are just our subconscious brain telling the conscious brain what it's not picking up on. Just like Johnny said."

"So is my subconscious telling my conscious that I'm going to die?"

"No. What is really bothering you? You obviously have a decision that you're trying to make, but you're afraid that it's going to destroy your future."

"How do you figure that?" Nell asked, sitting up and looking at her sister like she was growing a separate head.

"It's somewhat common sense. Death means no future. You're worried you're not going to get to have a future if you don't make the right choice. Your dreams, does it come down to making a choice, and you make the wrong one."

Nell nodded slowly. "Or I don't make one at all."

Penny smiled. "Are you worried about picking a college, by any chance."

Nell's eyes widened. "Well, yeah."

"How worried?"

Nell sighed. "Mama and Daddy keep saying it has to be my choice."

Penny rolled her eyes; that technically wasn't an answer, but it was enough of one. "June Bug said you were going to end up in New York. She also predicted Tammy, Johnny, mine, and Kitt's futures before she died. I think she's going to be right about yours too."

"I've looked at like five colleges in New York."

"Which one is the best?"

"Cornell."

"So go there."

"I can't. It's super expensive-"

"It's the best. It doesn't matter how expensive it is, Nell. Is that were you want to go?"

Nell quietly whispered, almost an unnoticeable "Yes."

"Then go. If that's where you want to be, go. Everything will work out. You may have to work harder than the others, but I know you. You'll be great."

Nell smiled at her sister. "It's ranked number one for architecture."

Penny looked at the sparkle returning to the the blue eyes she loved so well. "You already got in, didn't you."

"My scholarship would pay for half of the costs. I'd end up with like $100,000 in student loans though, by the time I was done."

Penny turned to look at Sheldon, and with her eyes, asked him the question she knew only he could answer.

"Based on the average salary of an architect, as well as cost of living in Ithaca, you could have this sum paid off in approximately eight to ten years, less if you save during your college years. I could come up with an average amount per month that you would need to save in order to pay it off in five years."

Nell smiled at Sheldon with her Happy-Penny smile, as he liked to call it. "You'd do that, for me?"

Sheldon smiled back. "Yes."

"Can I hug you?"

"No, but I will acknowledge your need to do so."

Penny laughed, and hugged him anyway. "Thank you Moonpie."

"Merry Christmas Penny," he said back, not seeming to mind her touch.

I hope this helps. Next up: summer and the Coopers meet the Bradleys and the Brieres...hmm...wonder what this could mean?