Penny walked through the familiar white hall she had been walking through for the past three days, nurses and doctors rushing past her, and the occasional beeping could be heard as she walked past the rooms. Her tear-stained face was now washed off, but her eyes remained bloodshot. She came to a stop when she was outside room 411, her left arm leaning on the door as she looked through the small window pane.

The anger that had been present in her hours ago started to stir up again, this time however, it was anger directed at herself. After a few minutes of staring into the room, her mother noticed her and did a small waving motion to indicate for her to come in. She pushed open the door and walked next to where her mother was seated, pulling over a chair and sitting on it.

"You okay, sweetie? Your eyes are really red; you should go and give them a wash." Her mother suggested, looking over at her.

"I'm fine, mom. I already washed them. I'm just a little tired, that's all." She lied, not wanting to bother her mother; she already had enough to worry about, even though Penny knew her mom wouldn't mind sharing a little talk with her about her personal life. She was her mother after all.

Penny directed her eyes to where her father's head laid on his pillow, all wrapped up in bandages, but his face bore a calm expression, and he looked more peaceful than he had in days. Then she moved her eyes down to where his arms rested on top of his blanket, also covered up in bandages. She was hit with a pang of guilt, like she did every time she looked at her father's bandage-wrapped body.

"It's not your fault, sweetie. Don't blame yourself." Her mother stated out loud, as though reading her mind.

"Of course it is!" she cried out. "I insisted for him to take me out that day. If I didn't, this wouldn't have happened!"

"He was tired; he's been working late for a few weeks now. He just didn't see it coming." Her mother insisted.

"If he didn't, he wouldn't have pushed me out of the way." Penny said, looking away.

"Well, he used the last of his strength to push you away. He was protecting you."

"He could have died, mom! He was hit by a freaking car! How can you be so calm about this?" They were in a private room, but she noticed a few people walking past stare into the room when she raised her voice.

"I believe in your father. He's strong. He'll recover soon. Just look at him." Her mother gestured to her father. "He looks so peaceful, don't you think? He's proud that he's done his job as a father to protect you."

"Why is it everyone feels there's a need for me to be protected? I can protect myself just fine, and no one would have to get hurt because of me."

"Well if he hadn't protected you, you would be the one lying on this bed right now." Her mother paused and looked at her. "Have you talked to anyone about this? I'm sure you would feel better if you did."

"I was going to, but…" She felt herself already starting to tear up as she recalled what had just happened that afternoon.

Her mother looked at her with an expression that told her to continue.

"But things got in the way." She said, not wanting to get into the details. "Ugh, I wish I was the one who was hit by the car instead, that'll make me feel better. At least better than I'm feeling now."

"You want to talk about it?"

"No."

She casted another glance at her father, and for a second she could swear that it was Leonard laying there instead of her father, and she let out a gasp of horror at that.

"What's wrong?" Her mother questioned, noting the sudden fear present on her face.

"It's nothing." Penny pushed back her chair with the back of her legs, standing up. "I'm gonna go home first. See you later, mom."

"Hold on, I'll come with you." Her mother said, also rising from her chair.

"Don't you need to stay with Dad?"

"He's fine. I already talked to him in the morning. He's just sleeping." She walked over to the other side where a small table stood, retrieving her purse from it.

Penny walked out of the hospital, her mother following close behind. It was then when she felt her phone vibrating in her pocket, and the only person who would called her was Leonard, but when she took her phone out an unknown number was displayed on her screen. She did a sliding motion with her finger across the screen and put her phone to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Penny! What the hell is wrong with you? You swore-"

"Who is this?" Penny asked, interrupting the caller, even though she was pretty sure she knew who was on the other end of the line.

"Claire, of course! Where are you? Are you home? I'll go over and talk to you."

"No, I'm outside the hospital right now."

"Hospital?" She gasped, and Penny was pretty sure she heard someone else gasp along with her at that end of the line. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. It's my Dad; he was in a car accident."

"Is he okay?" Her voice was in a much lower tone now.

"Yeah, he'll be fine."

"Oh. I'll talk to you another time then. Bye."

Then she hung up. It was no surprise that she already found out about her and Leonard. She probably could have guessed what had happened just by looking at Leonard's face.

"Why is she at the hospital? Is she okay?" Leonard asked as soon as Claire hung up the phone.

He had tried to persuade Claire not to bother Penny; she probably had enough on her mind at the moment, just like he did. But she had ignored him and went on to call her. He just breathed out a sigh and buried his head back into his books. It was only when he heard the word "hospital" that it caught his attention.

"She's fine, it's her Dad."

"What happened to him?"

"He was in a car accident."

"What? Is he okay?"

"She said he'll be fine."

"I'm going over to visit him." He stated, getting off his feet and grabbing his jacket to put around himself.

"Can I come?"

Leonard glanced over at her and pondered for a moment. "Sure. Just don't give me any trouble."

Leonard approached room 411 with Claire after he had gotten Wyatt's room information from the front desk. He looked into the room from the outside but noticed that Wyatt was not present on his bed. He was about to push into the room when a familiar voice called him from the back.

"Hey son. How you doing?" Wyatt lifted the paper cup in his hand. "Just went for some water." He led Leonard into his room.

"Sir, are you okay?" Leonard looked at him, and saw that his whole body was wrapped in bandages.

"Oh, I'm fine. I'll probably be out of here in a few days." He said cheerfully, not something that one would usually expect from someone all wrapped up in bandages. "Who's this you have with you?" He looked over at Claire for the first time.

"Oh, she's Claire. My cousin."

Claire gave a little wave. "Nice to meet you, sir." Leonard raised an eyebrow at Claire being polite for the first time he's seen in ages.

"Ah, I see. Same to you." He gave Claire a friendly smile, and looked back at Leonard. "So, how are you? How are things with Penny? She's not giving you any trouble, is she? Last I spoke to her; she keeps blaming herself for this." He pointed to himself. "Girl wants to be independent; she doesn't like it when others risk themselves to protect her. Can't be helped though, ain't that right, son?"

Leonard felt like he got punched in the heart for the second time that day, but he hid his grief and covered it up with a smile. He noticed Claire was about to say something, but he gave her a warning look to silence her. He wondered if their break up, or "pause" as she had called it, had anything to do with what happened to her father. He could just picture her breaking down with him lying on a hospital bed, all wrapped up like Wyatt was, and for the first time he wondered if maybe Penny made the right choice.

Her father hadn't been informed of what had happened to them, and he didn't wish to damage him even more than he already was. So he just smiled and told him, "Things are great, sir."

At that moment, a nurse came in and told them that she had to do a check on Wyatt.

"Well, I'll get going then. See you soon, sir." But he wasn't sure when the next time he would see Wyatt was, with everything that was going on.

"Leonard?" Wyatt called him when he was halfway to the door.

"Yes, sir?"

"Just take good care of her for me, will you?"

"That I will, sir." He said with a brief smile and turned away, walking out the door.