This is another preview from a multi-chapter IG fic I'm working on entitled, 'A Man's Worth'. More previews and info on this fic can be found on my Tumblr.

This takes place near the beginning of the story; Gadget has gotten his memories back but doesn't yet know about Penny and Brain helping him for years. Gadget thinks it's someone else who has been helping him (with good reason, but I don't want to give away too much of the plot).

Penny is heartbroken over this and is torn over telling her uncle the truth and letting him keep believing it's the other person to spare his feelings. Gadget knows Penny is deeply unhappy about something but can't figure out what. Penny is 16 in this story; about 2 months shy of 17. They're at the annual Metro City PD annual gala in this scene.

Hope you all enjoy, and have a lovely week! Do drop a comment if you like. ;)

Gadget smiled at his niece's surprised expression as he gently pulled her onto the dance floor. While he wasn't very comfortable with dancing he knew how much Penny loved the song that had started playing.

"Uncle, you don't have to..." Penny began even as she instinctively leaned into his embrace, holding onto his shoulder with her left hand while he took her right hand in his own.

"Nonsense, Penny," said Gadget as he guided her through the crowd of other dancing couples into an open spot. "After all, you were the one who helped me learn how to dance, remember?"

Penny laughed softly, and finally there was a smile on her face, Gadget thought in relief. "I remember," she said, touched that he was making such an effort on her part. Scolding herself for being so mopey all week, Penny relaxed further in his arms as the music started to pick up.

Gadget smiled down at her and seemed to gain more confidence as they danced. He gently laced his gloved fingers through her own as he spun them in a slow circle, not for the first time moved by how fragile Penny's slender frame felt against his own. Even in her very modest heels he still towered over his niece.

Penny was watching him with soft eyes and Gadget couldn't help but say, "Penny for your thoughts?"

His niece giggled at the old joke. "I was just thinking that I've never seen you in your dress uniform before. You look very handsome, Uncle Gadget," she said, her eyes gentle and filled with the familiar love and warmth that never failed to make Gadget's heart lurch.

"And you look beautiful," he murmured, gently squeezing her waist as he spoke. He released her hand to gently brush a tendril of dark gold hair away from her face and tuck it behind her ear.

Penny smiled and wrapped both of her arms around his neck.

From across the dance floor Edith Quimby smiled as she watched uncle and niece dance. She was deeply worried about Penny and had been for some time now. Her woman's intuition knew something was very wrong but she respected that Penny wasn't ready to talk to her just yet.

At least she had a smile on her face, Edith thought.

"What's put that smile on your face, Edie?" said her husband as he returned to their table with two drinks.

Edith accepted the glass of wine from her husband and took a sip before gesturing towards the packed dance floor. "Watching Gadget - he's actually not that bad of a dancer," she said.

Quimby snorted. "Gadget doesn't dance, Edie."

"Well, he does now."

Quimby frowned in confusion and then his eyes widened as he spotted Gadget and Penny among the crowd.

"Well, I'll be damned," he said, shaking his head in amazement. "If anyone could get Gadget to dance, it would be his niece," he said as he sat down and took a long sip of his iced tea.

"They're so perfectly matched, aren't they?" said Edith softly.

Quimby nearly spat out his drink. "Edie, they're uncle and niece!"

His wife gave her husband a long-suffering look. "I know that, George, and you know that's not how I meant it. Look at them," she said. "What they have is special," she insisted, turning her eyes back towards her husband. "You just said so yourself that Gadget doesn't dance, and yet there he is dancing with his niece. And I'm not sure why Penny has been so unhappy lately, but if anyone can get her to open up, it's Gadget."

"Edie..."

"What I'm trying to say, George," his wife continued calmly but passionately, "is that they love each other. Can't you see it?"

"But, but... it's Gadget..."

"And he's still a man, though it still seems you and the rest of the force have forgotten that," said Edith quietly. "Penny, as far as I know, is the only one who has always treated him like a man, a man that still has a mind, heart and soul. Those two have a connection that's special, George."

Quimby shifted uncomfortably. "But..."

Edith smiled and rested her hand over her husband's rough, work-worn one. "Trust me on this one, my love," she said. "There's so little innocence and purity left in the world. That right there," she said, nodding towards Gadget and Penny, "is the truest example of unconditional love that I've ever seen."

Gadget smiled as Penny wrapped her arms around his neck. He pulled her closer and rested his brow against her own.

'...can't look in your eyes, you're out of my league...'

Penny's hand slipped to his shoulders and Gadget couldn't tear his eyes away from his niece. There was that look again in those beautiful blue-green eyes. Sadness and...something else...he couldn't place it.

He hated it. Gadget knew there was something Penny wasn't telling him and it was tearing him up inside.

As the final chorus of the song swelled around them Gadget slid his hands up Penny's slender arms, pulling them back around his neck. Penny closed her eyes as Gadget pulled her even closer, their steps matching each other perfectly.

'...just a fool to believe...she's like the wind...'

Gadget leaned into Penny and she responded in kind, both unaware of the admiring glances sent their way from the other dancers. Despite Gadget's limbs being less fluid and graceful than Penny's the two moved effortlessly over the dance floor, feet and hands and hearts moving in perfect harmony with each other.

Their movements spoke volumes to each other.

'I love you,' Penny thought, unable to tear her eyes away from her uncle. She slid her hand down his broad chest and rested it over his human heart, her other hand still resting against the back of his neck.

Gadget stepped forward and she stepped back, both dancing a song that only they could hear despite the plaintive melody playing on the speakers around them.

'Why are you so unhappy?' Gadget thought, his chest aching as he covered Penny's hand with his own.

'I only wanted to keep you safe.' Penny stepped forward and Gadget shifted his weight, bending slightly so that he could lift Penny against his chest and spin her around. He set her on her feet again, noses touching as they moved together.

'...just a fool to believe...she's like the wind...'

'I'd do anything to make you smile.' Gadget pressed his face against the side of Penny's neck.

'Don't ever leave me. I couldn't bear it.' Penny reached up to wrap her arms around his neck again, stroking the jet black, thick curls of his hair.

'You mean the world to me.' Gadget closed his eyes at the feel of Penny's slender fingers in his hair. He reached up and gently caught her left hand in his right, pressing a kiss to her fingertips.

Penny smiled despite the moisture brimming in her eyes as she carefully gripped the shoulder of his dress uniform.

"Are you alright?" Gadget murmured, his breath warm against Penny's cheek as they moved together. His hand still rested over her own that in turn rested over his heart and she nodded.

"Yes," she whispered and then gasped in surprised delight as Gadget playfully dipped her before pulling her back up against him.