"Okay, you got everything?" Meryl asked as Leonard shut the boot of his car on his and Penny's luggage.
"Uh-huh," Penny nodded, putting her purse down on the passenger seat. "Whatever I've forgotten, Bridge'll have anyway."
"True. And you, Leonard?"
"Yeah, I've got everything I need." Leonard nodded, patting his pants pocket to double-check for his wallet, phone and keys.
"He did a check list." Penny informed her mother.
"Ah, smart."
"Here," Wyatt called out, stepping out of the house with a gift bag. "Bridge's favorite wine and a cake Mom baked for you guys to take up."
Taking the bag, Penny held it up to her nose. "Strawberry Cheesecake!" She exclaimed excitedly.
"Yes, but its for you to give your sister, so don't eat it on the way." Meryl laughed.
Shrugging, Penny put the gift bag carefully on the floor of the back of the car. "I make no promises. But thanks."
"You two have a safe journey." Wyatt patted Leonard on the back, before giving his daughter a kiss on the cheek.
"And don't be misbehaving just because it's your sister!" Meryl warned, hugging both Leonard and Penny in turn. "I know it's Bridget but you still have to listen to her. Both of you."
"Yeah, I know." Penny rolled her eyes. "Daddy gave me a whole lecture which I have fondly titled 'How to Behave at Bridget's House: Dad Edition'."
"That's my girl," Wyatt chuckled, patting Penny's back lightly as she got into the car.
"Let me know when you get there." Meryl said, stepping back as Leonard and Penny shut their car doors. "And if Bridge's laundry basket is overflowing, tell her to do her laundry or no Cheesecake next time."
"Ah, the Cheesecake threat." Penny grinned, before turning to Leonard. "That always works on Bridge when its coming from Mom."
"She's not kidding." Wyatt raised his brows. "Now you two be off else you'll hit the traffic. Got the navigation all set?"
"Yup," Leonard nodded, tapping the 'Start Journey' button on his navigation system. "All set!"
"Alright then, you two have a nice time and hopefully the journey won't be too bad at this time." Meryl smiled. "Be good!"
"We will." Penny laughed. "Bye, Mom, Dad!" She waved out of the window. Having always expected to feel slightly upset about going away somewhere without her parents, she was pleasantly surprised at just how excited she was to be getting away from them for a while. As much as she loved them, she was finding nowadays that she preferred having time without them, either on her own, with Leonard or friends - and needing more of that time than she had before.
"Bye," Leonard called, waving with one hand as he started the car up.
Meryl and Wyatt called their goodbyes and waved, watching the two drive off. Wyatt put an arm around his wife, who sighed happily. "It's nice that she's going away for a little while. I don't mind that kind of growing up; her getting to spend some time away from us."
"See, I told you it wouldn't be that bad."
"Well, you say that now... when they decide to go away for a week or something and it's just the two of them you'll be the grumpiest man alive."
"Bit of an exaggeration there."
"Yeah... no it's not."
Opening the door to the office-slash-guestroom, Bridget gestured inside. "I'm sorry it's kinda cramped in here, but... it was this or the couch and, small as you both are, I don't think you'd both be able to sleep comfortably there. And at least the fold-out in here is a double."
"Hey, you'll finally be sleeping on a fold-out!" Penny grinned, nudging Leonard.
"Now you haven't totally lied to Dad!" Bridget raised her brows, laughing. "Anyway, the fold-out is a little squeaky, so... you know, if you do anything, don't be too loud or eager."
While Leonard blushed, Penny simply shrugged and dropped her purse onto the fold-out. "We'll see. So what's the plan today?"
"Josh will be finished with work in like an hour, so I was thinking you guys can get some rest and wash up or whatever and then we can meet Josh, go somewhere for lunch and maybe go round town for a bit?"
"That sounds good. Do they have that cute little boutique store still? The one with those dresses and those candles and stuff."
"Yeah, it's still there. And there's also that lingerie shop you used to cringe at but would probably find quite useful now, if you wanted to go there." Bridget wiggled her eyebrows.
"First you're telling me off about it and then you're encouraging it? Gee, make up your mind."
"Whatever, I'll probably pop in anyway. And then in the evening we can just get some take-out and watch a movie or whatever - ooh, eat the Cheesecake that Mom made and maybe the wine, but you two can only have a glass each. This all sound okay to you, Leonard?" Bridget turned her attention to Leonard who had been sitting quietly, knowing that her sister was probably more interested in making sure that he enjoyed his stay.
"Yeah, that all sounds good to me." Leonard nodded.
"Awesome. If there's anything you wanna do or don't wanna do, just let me know, I'm just coming up with whatever. I'll leave you guys to it then, I'll just be in the front room finishing some work. I've put you guys some towels there on your pillows and you can take whatever you want from the kitchen."
"Thank you." Leonard smiled politely.
"Can I take a beer from the kitchen?" Penny asked.
"No." Bridget pointed a finger at her sternly. "I know Daddy gave you a lecture about this already; he text me."
Sighing, Penny nodded. "Of course he did."
"Good. Okay, I'm off. I'll let you guys know when Josh is done but you've got just about an hour or so."
Bridget left the room, and Penny twisted from side to side to stretch her spine. "What d'ya wanna do?
"I dunno... probably a quick shower. A drink would be nice too, actually."
"Mm, good idea." Penny nodded. "Lets go get something from the kitchen." Holding out her hand, she helped Leonard up and led him out of the room. "I used to always drink multivitamin juice when I was little - I loved it, for some reason - so I know she'll have loads of that because she always gets it when I'm coming over."
"Ooh, I haven't had that since I was like... ten."
"Ta-dah!" Penny opened the fridge, revealing a dozen small juice box cartons of children's multivitamin juice. "Remember these bad boys?"
"Wow, it's literally like I travelled back in time."
"Shut up." Penny pulled out two of the small cartons and handed one to Leonard. Shutting the fridge, she spotted a fruit basket on the counter, eyes widening. "Want an apple? Straight from the garden."
"Really?"
"Yup, I'll take you outside later and show you." Penny grabbed two apples and looked around the small kitchen. "Anything else?"
Leonard also looked around the kitchen, brows raising as his eyes fell upon the corner of the kitchen and the vast array of wines and spirits. "That is a lot of alcohol."
"Don't." Penny said softly, almost as a warning, as she shook her head. For the first time, Leonard saw a look of genuine pleading, discomfort and uncertainty on her face that he couldn't really place.
"Okay. I'm sorry."
"It's fine." Penny smiled, and led them back to their makeshift guestroom in silence. Once they'd sat down on the bed, Penny folded her legs beneath her and sipped at her juice for a moment. "Bridget is really... she gets mad when people try to point stuff like that out to her. I... she has her issues. But she's not... she won't drink so much around you, she does... she does know her limits and she's not that bad but just-"
Seeing that Penny was on the verge of beginning to panic and get upset, Leonard placed a hand on her arm to stop her, gently rubbing her skin with his thumb. "Penny, it's okay. I won't say anything, it's none of my business. I just didn't know."
"I know, it's okay... I'm sorry. I've never told anyone or really thought about it for a while so it's kind of... I just panicked, I guess." Penny explained before returning to taking sips from her juice box. "My family have a lot of issues."
"Umm, have you met my family?"
"Yeah..." Penny nodded, twisting her lips. "Different kinds of issues, I guess. Which reminds me, did your Mom stop pestering you about my head bump?"
"Oh, yeah, she's laid off it now that she saw you yesterday and you were still functioning as normal. Though apparently the brain scan is still on offer."
"Great." Penny stuck a thumb up, using her other hand to toss her now empty carton into the wastepaper bin. "Right, I'm gonna go take a shower."
After going out for lunch, they had taken what started off as a walk around the town. Soon enough it turned into a shopping trip for the girls, which prompted Leonard and Josh to return to Bridget's house and begin watching the box set. Penny immediately headed for the boutique store she always enjoyed vising, purchasing a new dress for the dinner they would be going out for the following evening. After a while they reached the lingerie shop, and Penny decided to go in since she didn't want to stand outside on her own - especially considering all the husbands, boyfriends, and possibly random singles that were waiting outside.
"This is cute!" Penny exclaimed, drifting instantly toward a light pink nightie, running her fingers over the lace hems.
Raising a disbelieving brow, Bridget paused to comment before continuing on through the store. "Really, that? What are you, twelve?"
"Ugh." Penny rolled her eyes and trudged behind her sister, giving various sets of underwear suspicious looks as though she wasn't sure why they existed. As Bridget stopped, having found something she liked, Penny inspected a set on the next rack. "This is interesting. That shade of pink goes nicely with my hair."
Bridget turned to take a look and folded her arms. "As if I'm going to let my little sister even think about buying something like that."
"Let me?" Penny scoffed.
"Yeah."
"What if I want to get it?"
"You can't."
"Why not?"
"Because I said so."
"Wow, now I definitely won't get it!"
"You won't. You're sixteen. It hardly counts as underwear. I'm not letting you buy that."
"You're not Mom, you can't tell me what I can or can't do. Or what I can or can't buy and wear and use."
"Yes I can."
"You can't."
"You can buy yourself some underwear that actually covers what it's meant to."
"Know what? I'm gonna buy it now just to piss you off. If I want this see-through bra thing and... sort-of panties then I'll get them. And wear them." Penny stormed off, holding the underwear in both hands and returning to the pink nightie.
Counting silently to ten, Bridget inhaled and exhaled slowly, knowing that she and Penny were both incredibly stubborn and would go through with her words unless she did something about it. Being the youngest one, Penny was always very good at making sure she achieved annoying her elder siblings even if she was out of her depth, meaning that usually Bridget had to be sensible and go fix things. Especially now that her little sister was about to buy... that and she was meant to be looking out for her. Rolling her eyes, Bridget went over to Penny with an annoyed huff. Approaching her, she tapped her on the shoulder. "Penny."
"What?" Penny turned around, holding the pink nightie in her hands now that she'd found one in her size.
"I'm sorry. But I'm not letting you buy that and turn my guestroom into some kind of creepy underage sex temple or whatever. I don't care what you guys do together but these," she grabbed the two skimpy garments on their hangers from Penny, "are not things you should be owning at sixteen for Gods sake! I thought you were still at least somewhat innocent enough to take in here without you grabbing the most... inappropriate things. I'm going to put them back."
Frowning, Penny looked at her sister. "Can I still get the nightie?"
"Yes, the nightie you can have." Bridget nodded, seeing no harm in the nightie, before walking back to where they had been to put away the initial offending items. She decided that she too would have to stick to more sensible items after having a go at her sister.
Biting her lip, Penny followed her sister along for a few minutes in silence. She was secretly glad that Bridget had taken away what she had picked up because she wasn't entirely certain she wanted to wear something like that; it had simply seemed interesting and the colors had been nice. Not that she would ever back down to her sister like that. But still, if she had managed to get away with it, she was sure that eventually she'd want to wear it. Perhaps even sooner rather than later. Maybe Leonard would have liked it. Personally she thought it was easier to just be fully naked rather than clad in underwear that didn't actually cover what it was designed for, but if her sister was so against her buying it then there must be some appeal to it on the male side. Or maybe her sister was right and she really was just too young for these sorts of things. Still, it brought back to mind something that had started to bother her recently. "Bridge?"
"Yeah?"
"Leonard's going to Science Camp in a couple of weeks."
Confused, Bridget raised a brow as she picked up a deep purple nightie to try on. She wasn't quite sure how underwear and Science Camp related, but Penny had always been one for linking things that didn't have a clear link until she'd explained it. She was almost like a child in this way, Bridget thought, jumping from one thing to another. Yeah, she's definitely too young for a lot of the stuff in here. Mom would freak out. "Umm... okay?"
"He's going to be gone for a week." Penny explained, following her sister through to the fitting rooms.
"Right. You trying that on?" Bridget gestured to the pink nightie Penny held.
"No," Penny shook her head and sat down on the couch in the fitting room area while her sister disappeared behind a curtain. "This is the size I always get. Anyway, can you help me pick something... nice to wear?"
"Ugh, these skinny jeans are not what you wanna be wearing if you're trying on things. What kind of 'nice to wear' do you mean? From here?"
"Yeah." Penny admitted.
"Ah, that kind of nice. Okay. But not too that kind of nice, because-"
"I know, I know. It's just... apparently girls actually go to this camp. And I looked on the website, they're not as ugly as you would hope. So I need something really memorable so Leonard has that to think about."
"Okay... so what you're saying is non-ugly girl scientists make you feel the need to use your body and your looks to let Leonard remember you by while he's gone?" Bridget asked, finally maneuvering herself out of her pants, already mentally guessing at where Penny was going.
"Well, yeah! I'm not smart like those girls are, and I don't like science like they do. All I have on the table is that I look good."
Observing herself in the mirror once she'd put on the nightie, Bridget rolled her eyes at her sisters statement. "God, you are stupid. If he cared about that stuff so much, he wouldn't still be with you. He's a guy, once he'd realized he can get a girl he could have easily found someone else when he realized how slow you are with so much as counting. But he didn't. Damn, I look good in this." She decided, having taken a look from all angles. "Besides, he waited for you to tell him you loved him even after all you said when he said it was 'thank you'. I really don't think he's just going to be like 'oh, a girl who likes science, see ya Penny!'."
"He might."
Pulling off the nightie to get changed back into her clothes, Bridget sighed. "Penny, let me put it this way. Leonard is a nerd. He's going to Science Camp for the science, not to meet girls. He loves you. Your insecurity about being inferior on an academic level are cancelled out by the fact that he wouldn't even notice if a pretty girl who was also smart was sat right in front of him. You, Penny, are the factor that eliminates his interest in all other girls on a romantic level. How's that for an equation?" Bridget grinned proudly.
"I guess so." Penny nodded, knowing that her sister was probably right. Leonard was going to be with Sheldon, Raj and Howard and had been incredibly excited about it when he'd explained it to her, telling her at the end that he didn't even care if it was uncool to love Science Camp because it had always been the best part of every year - being with his friends and people similar to him, away from his home and parents. She knew it was probably the one time a year he got to do something like that without getting bullied in some way or another. Aside from her own worries and insecurities, she was incredibly happy that he had something like this in his life.
Sensing that Penny was probably becoming more confused the more they spoke about it, Bridget quickly finished in the changing room and came out. She knew Penny would be going in circles - wanting Leonard to enjoy himself, but feeling somewhat left out of that part of his life, and wanting to make sure he didn't forget about her too much during that time, but not wanting to get in the way, yet still wanting to somehow be involved, then still wanting him to have a good time. Bridget herself had gone through that vicious circle countless times, and Penny was much more invested in this relationship than Bridget herself had been all those times before. And while she didn't want to encourage her younger sister to use and rely on her looks, there was little else she could do right now. There were worse things she could be asking to buy. And Penny was right; she wasn't her mother. As her sister, she was okay with being a bit more flexible, but at least this way she had a say in things - before, she would have carelessly let Penny do whatever she wanted, but she knew that nowadays in Penny's limbo between growing up and still being so youthful, she needed someone to almost guide her. "Come on, lets find you something then. But if you pick up something see-through and impractical you're not getting any Cheesecake and you'll just have to start really loving science and reading about it."
"I already did start reading about it. I looked up some of the words of experiments and stuff he said they do."
"Ha," Penny giggled as she read the text she had just received from Amy.
"What?" Bridget glanced quickly at Penny before turning her attention back to the road.
"I asked Amy if she goes to that Science Camp thing. She says no, because her mother doesn't want her getting involved in 'camp gangs' and 'experimental boys' because theory is sufficient enough for her age."
"Wow... there's Daddy strict and then there's... Amy's Mom." Bridget raised her brows. "That's crazy. Like... weird crazy."
"Yup." Penny agreed, putting her phone away and getting her lip-gloss out. "She's a little... different. It's why she's such a good match for Sheldon. In their own way, they're kind of cute." Leaning to the side and opening the window, Penny used the passenger side view mirror to apply her lip-gloss. "It's kinda weird how those two are so alike and then me and Leonard are so... different."
"Sometimes it works better to be different, sometimes its better when you're similar. Just gotta find what works." Bridget shrugged. "Josh lives down that road." She added, pointing a finger to the left before turning on her right indicator.
"Cool." Penny nodded, leaning to the other side to take a better look and dropping her lip-gloss. "That better not have rolled under the car seat, it's good lip-gloss!" She groaned, leaning down and forward to try find it, patting around the floor with her hands.
"You know, I'm actually thinking of asking Josh to move in with me."
"What?" Penny's head jerked up to look at her sister with wide eyes, but instead ended up hitting the back of her head on the edge of the glove compartment while her sister drove over a speed bump. Closing her eyes and releasing a slow breath, she lifted a hand to the back of her throbbing head and slowly lifted it. "I swear to God."
"Sorry." Bridget bit her lip, slowing down slightly so she could look at Penny. "You okay?"
"Fortunately I am used to in-car head injuries." Penny grumbled. "Just tell me more about this whole moving in thing. And drive carefully."
"I'll get you some ice when we're back. But... yeah. I mean, we spend most of our time together anyway and we only rarely spend nights apart these days. His place is smaller than mine and he only told me he loved me after I told him - but like, right after, he didn't pull your crap on me - and I'm the one who asked him out, so it kinda works if I'm the one to ask him to move in. Plus his place sucks, I don't want to move in there. There's no apple trees in his garden!"
"Wait, you already told him you loved him? I didn't know that!" Penny's eyes opened again so she could look at her sister in shock. "When did this happen? Was it scary?"
"Last week. It wasn't scary either. It kind of just... came out. Like a happy accident."
Smiling, Penny nodded knowingly. "I know what you mean. Well, I'm glad you told him. And that he said it back to you right there and then. I think you should ask him. Just... not while I'm here. I don't really need another head injury."
"Well I'm not going to ask him in front of you and Leonard! I'm just saying, I'm thinking about it."
"Aww, Mom and Dad are gonna be so happy!" Penny clapped her hands together excitedly.
"Yeah, yeah, aren't they just." Bridget parked the car having arrived home, uncomfortable with her sisters enthusiasm. Now she knew how Penny felt when she'd been teasing her about her feelings. "You get the bags, I'll find your lip-gloss."
"Yeah, it's actually your lip-gloss, I just borrowed it and wanted to find it so I could put it back without you noticing." Penny admitted as she got out the car.
"Oh, then screw that."
"It's your Chanel one."
"Penny!"
"I'm sorry! I just really liked it!"
"You could have asked." Bridget rolled her eyes, going to find the lip-gloss.
"I know... but you can't be too mad at me, you made me hit my head."