I know, that took a while. Sorry about that. Life has a habit of getting in the way.

Enjoy :)

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters that appeared in the show.

"So, how was your ladies night?" Leonard asked after Penny entered their new domicile, swaying and grinning. "Are you drunk?"

"Maybe a bit tipsy." she shrugged and flopped down onto the bed. "Learned a bit about the two girls."

"Right." he chuckled, seeing her try to take her pants off with some difficulty and helping her to pull them down. "So, your first impression of them?"

"Well, Amy is a bit strange, she started anoli... onali..."

"Analyzing?" he prompted.

"That, yes." she mumbled her head in her shirt as she pulled it over her head. "But you know what?"

"What?" he smirked, watching her take off her bra and underwear before falling backwards.

"That Bernadette?" she huffed. "That little woman is simply terrifying."

"She's not that bad." he argued.

"Pff." she huffed. "Do you know that the guy you killed when we met suffered terrible pain while he died? You wouldn't know by looking at him because her poison paralyzed his muscles."

"It did?" he was surprised. "I think she and I will have to talk."

"She wanted to punish the guy for raping kids." she continued, not having heard his remark.

"Who wouldn't." he sighed, not knowing yet if he should admonish or congratulate Bernadette for what she did, given that he would have loved to kill the man in the most painful and horrifying way himself.

"I need to wash and brush my teeth." Penny mumbled and rolled out of bed, swaying as she tried to stand.

"Easy." Leonard quickly grabbed her arm to steady her.

Penny stumbled into the bathroom and Leonard held her as she grabbed a washcloth and wet it down, rubbing it over her body before taking her toothbrush and awkwardly cleaned her teeth, pushing the toothbrush against her cheek a few times before she gave up after a few attempts, having only gone through part of her usual motions.

"Back to bed." she giggled and turned around quickly which almost caused her to fall had Leonard not held her.

"Jeez, how much did you have to drink?" he wondered.

"I think Bernadette provided two bottles." she hummed. "No, two and two. And two."

"Six?" Leonard smirked.

"Yes, that." she giggled.

"Well, that explains it." he chuckled, knowing that Bernadette didn't drink much and he couldn't imagine Amy drinking a lot as well. "Hopefully that doesn't become a regular thing."

"Regular." she laughed. "That's a salad."

"No, that's arugula." he shook his head in slight exasperation. "Come on, lets get you to bed."

He led her back into the bedroom where Penny again just flopped onto the bed, spread out across both sides and apparently already asleep. Leonard just chuckled and pushed and pulled Penny's body until it was on her side of the bed proper. After tugging her in, he returned to the bathroom to do his routine, a quick shower followed by brushing his teeth.

On his way out, he checked on his dogs, who had made their nest on the bed of the second bedroom. Tyson was curled up while Major was on his back, his body contorted in a way only an animal could find comfortable. He made sure that their water bowls were filled before heading into the bedroom again where Penny was gently snoring.

He got on his side of the bed and climbed into it, turning off the light and closing his eyes. He sighed at the thought of having to go to work every day, back to a nine to five job he thought he had left behind, doing something he was good at and liked, but found boring nonetheless. It was not quite midnight yet, so Leonard was lying awake, unable to do what he'd normally do in this situation, go outside on his property to meditate in the cool night air or do a little night workout.

Penny suddenly stopped snoring and turned around. In the dim light from the outside street lamps, another thing he'll have to get used to again, he noticed her eyes open and her teeth showing in a vertical grin due to her prone position. Without saying a word, Penny dug under his covers and shuffled over until she was flat on top of him, her mouth descending on his in a gentle and loving kiss. He could still taste the alcohol on her breath, despite the toothpaste.

"Penny, wait." Leonard pushed her up a bit. "You're drunk."

"So?" she wondered. "Leonard, aren't we boyfriend and girlfriend?"

"Um, yes." he nodded.

"So you don't have to worry about taking advantage of me." she giggled and kissed him again.

"Morning." she mumbled when her eyes opened from the noise in the room and she could see Leonard getting dressed in the dim light of the luminator he had brought with him.

"Morning." he smiled at her and she finally realized that it was still dark outside. "Don't tell me that it's four in the morning again."

"It's four in the morning at some point every day." he joked.

"Very funny." she rolled her eyes and picked up her phone to check the time. "Jeez, it's really four."

"I always get up at four, why are you surprised?"

"I'm not surprised, I'm flabbergasted." she corrected him. "We made love last night for what? An hour? And you still get up that early."

"It wasn't quite an hour." he chuckled. "You wanna come with me on the run?"

"Leonard, turn that light off and get out." she huffed and threw the comforter over her eyes.

"Yes, dear." he laughed and whistled, his dogs coming to him immediately.

He left the apartment and took the elevator down. While he never had problem with stairs, he didn't want his dogs to wear out their shoulders too much by going down several flights of stairs every day. Once outside, he began running directly towards the small park area, where his dogs could do their business if they had to.

He missed the crisp morning air of winter in Vermont, feeling strange at being out in fifty degrees and more at four-fifteen in the morning in early January. Another massive change compared to being at his home was the amount of people that were out even at this early hour. He got concerned looks from several people as he passed them with two large dogs who were off leash at his side. He hoped that none of them would be worried enough to call the police about it, since he really didn't want to have them on a leash while running, even though he had the leashes in his pockets, just to be sure.

Luckily, at least for today, nobody bothered him, except for the one woman who ran next to him for a few minutes, complimenting him on his animals. He thanked her with a smile but refrained from more than that, concentrating on his run until he had done roughly an hour. He went to a park bench and stretched, feeling his muscles and tendons creak as if he was twice as old than he was.

When he finished, he felt the pinch from his bullet wounds that he often felt after stretching, especially the ones in his thigh and chest. Major and Tyson breathed hard as well, their tongues hanging out and Leonard cursed himself for not having brought a water bottle for the two. He decided to head to the closest bakery, the smell of freshly baked goods leading him to his destination.

"You two, sit." he said and used the leashes to tie them to a bike stand before heading inside. "Good morning."

"Good morning, sir." the women behind the counter greeted him with a smile. "Can I ask? Are those German shepherds?"

"No, they are Belgian Malinois." Leonard replied as he perused the offers.

"Beautiful animals." she gushed.

"Thanks." Leonard smiled and pointed to a few items. "I'll take two of those, two of those and four of those."

"Very good, sir." she nodded and packed the two bear claws, two braided breads and four muffins into several bags. "Enjoy."

"Keep the change." Leonard said after handing her a ten dollar bill.

"Thank you very much." she smiled at him as she put the bill into the register. "Have a nice day."

"You too." Leonard nodded and headed out, taking the leashes and walking back to the apartment block, the dogs . "You'll get water soon."

The remaining walk back was done in ten minutes, Leonard opening the door and using the elevator again to get back up. He entered the apartment and after putting his purchases down, grabbed two bowls and filled them with water, placing both on two small stools so his dogs could drink without having to bend too far down.

He checked the cupboards and found a can of cocoa, deciding on making some hot chocolate for breakfast, given that he didn't have any of his teas with him. He placed the bakery goods onto a plate and left it on the kitchen island. The dogs were trained well enough to ignore the sweet treats, Leonard rewarding them by giving them some real food, the remains of last nights dinner. He knew that he had to go shopping again for more, though.

"I smell baked goods." a tired Penny shuffled from the back into the living room.

"You smell correctly." he chuckled, not looking up from the pot where he was heating up the milk.

"Oh, bear claws." he heard her say before the sound of crunching reached his ears, a look confirming that she had taken a big bite out of one of them. "What are you cooking?"

"Milk." he told her, stirring and finally taking it off the stove. "For hot chocolate."

"No tea?" she giggled.

"That's still in Vermont." he shrugged and poured the milk into two glasses, adding cocoa powder to it.

"So, how is your day going to be?" she asked as they ate.

"Well, I'll have to go to the registrars office to notify them of my residency, as should you." he sighed. "Then I have to call my dad so he forwards the important mail to here."

"Right." she agreed. "So, what am I supposed to do all day apart from the registration?"

"Whatever you want." he told her. "Sheldon will most likely give you some material to sink your teeth in and then work with you when we're back and have had our dinner."

"That would shorten the training, wouldn't it?"

"Yes." he nodded. "Essentially, you'd have to learn, he'd ask you about it and then he'd explain to you the things you got wrong. But he will make you do some more physical things too."

"Like what?"

"Putting on a training course and have you run it." he shrugged. "Evading cameras, open doors and so on."

"That sounds cool." she grinned.

"It's not an adventure course." he reminded her. "It may not be lethal, but you need to act as if a mistake could lead to your death by the hands of guards."

"Got it, I'll take it seriously." Penny conceded. "Anything else?"

"Can you go to the store and get some dog food?" Leonard asked her. "If possible, from a real pet store but you'd need to do it right after they open."

"Why so early?"

"Because there's no food for them in the apartment apart from some leftovers from yesterday." he pointed out.

"Point taken." she chuckled. "I'll see what I can do. Though it may be tough to do with a mode of transportation."

"There are several cars available for us." he told her. "Come down with me when I go to work and Howard will give you the keys for one."

"For real?" she gasped. "And they're not organization cars?"

"No, they belong to Howard." he shook his head. "They're older cars."

"Why does he do that?" she wondered. "The insurance payments should prohibit doing that."

"He can afford it." Leonard shrugged. "And it's easier to use one of his than to have to buy or rent one for the time we're here."

"So, you four are sharing a car?"

"No, we take two, since we're five people." he said. "Me, Sheldon, Howard, Raj and Amy."

"Right, forgot about her."

"That's not nice." he chuckled.

"So, how much dog food should I buy?" she asked. "And should I do a regular grocery shop as well?"

"If you want, sure." he agreed. "You know what to buy?"

"Maybe make a list?" she suggested.

"Will do." he nodded and grabbed a pen and paper to write down several things while eating with his other hand."

"Damn, pace yourself." she chuckled when she saw the list get longer and longer.

"Hey, you want to go shopping again this week?" he retorted.

"No." she admitted. "But don't forget that I have to carry this stuff."

"You can do more than one trip." he shrugged. "Gives the added bonus of training."

"Yeah, yeah." she rolled her eyes. "Speaking of training, you think I should join a gym?"

"If you want, sure." he shrugged. "I'd do some one-day offers to see which one is best."

"That's a good idea." she nodded. "What about you?"

"The university has a gym for its sports teams, I just use that."

"Don't you stand out a bit among the football or basketball players?" she giggled.

"Well, I'd train during classes. Also, faculty is allowed to train there too so me being there wouldn't raise that many eyebrows."

"Not to mention that you could wipe the floor with them if they gave you lip." she grinned.

"That too, though it might be a bit... overt, doing it." he hesitated. "Too much attention when the short physicist kicks the asses of several football players twice his mass at the same time."

"Wouldn't they look sideways at you when they see you doing your martial arts routine?"

"Not necessarily, there are several people doing martial arts." Leonard shrugged. "I mean, even the university president does it, given his past."

"Oh, okay then." she accepted. "When are you going to go into work?"

"Work starts at nine, so eight-thirty at the latest."

"Listen, last night you said that it was Monday, so it was Thai food." she started. "Why is that?"

"You may have noticed that Sheldon is a bit... peculiar." Leonard chuckled. "He's a genius, obsessive compulsive and as such, has a very strict daily routine."

"Strict as in...?"

"He goes to the toilet and does number two at eight-twenty, sharp." Leonard sighed. "He does it for eight minutes and then takes his bag to go to work."

"Wait, what?" Penny laughed. "How can he control when he does his bowel movements?"

"That's why he eats what and when he eats." he pointed out. "That way, he can more or less control when to use the bathroom. He also has a very strict bedtime. During work week, it's ten pm."

"Anything else?"

"Yea, Wednesday is comic book night, which means after work, he goes to the comic book store to get the newest issues."

"And how does he react to someone interrupting his strict schedule?" she asked.

"What do you think?" he chuckled. "Irritation, exasperation. Borderline insults."

"Well, here's hoping that my training will be short then." she grinned. "You ran with the dogs, right?"

"Yes, why?"

"When should I walk them?"

"When we leave would be enough." he pointed at them. "They're resting off their run."

"So cute." she smiled, seeing both dogs back to back, their feet stretched away from their bodies.

"Don't forget to use the leashes when you walk them, unless you are in areas where it's allowed for them to roam free." Leonard said. "And also don't forget the poop bags."

"The what?"

"You need to pick up their poop." he pointed to a stack of bags. "It's law."

"Great." she shuddered. "So, I have to grab it with my hands?"

"No." he chuckled. "Either use the trowel or the bags as gloves."

"What?" she wondered.

"Look, you do it like this." he got up and showed her what he meant by flipping the bag inside out, put his hand into it and making a grabbing motion. "It depends on how much they shit out."

"Still, gross." she made a face.

"Course it is, who wants to handle poop." he shrugged. "But that's the price these days for having dogs."

"Do you do that at home?"

"Not usually, since I don't have to." he shook his head. "The boys are doing their business mostly on my property. And when they do it in the forest, they either do it off the trails or I use a trowel to throw it into the forest."

"And that's fine?"

"It's nature." he told her. "I mean, nobody clears away the poop of a deer. Other animals and insects are taking care of that."

"Still, ew." she made the disgusted face again but bowed to the inevitable.

They finished the food and hot chocolate and Leonard cleaned the glasses while Penny sat down on the armchair and closed her eyes. She felt very tired, having gotten used to get up later than six during her time at her parents' farm. As she sat, Tyson got up, sitting down in front of her and putting his head on her thigh, looking up at her with what looked to her like genuine love. Penny rubbed her hand slowly over his head and its sides, Tyson pushing against her palm as she did it. Major however couldn't be bothered, still sprawled out on the floor.

"What are you reading?" she asked him when he sat down on the couch, phone in hand.

"Newspaper and the message board."

"Anything interesting?"

"Not in the newspaper, just the usual." he said. "The board however, is interesting."

"How so?" she wanted to know, pushing Tyson's head away so she could get up and join him on the couch to read the phone too.

"Look." he pointed to the newest contract.

"Whoa." she read the name of the target. "Will anyone take that?"

"Doubtful." he chuckled. "The reasoning for wanting him dead is simply moronic. My guess is that this particular contract will be taken off the board before the hour is over."

"Still, who would want to kill Bill Gates?" she wondered.

"Hey, some people hate Windows with a passion." he chuckled. "I do wonder though how the contract got onto the board in the first place. This is the kind of contract that would be filtered out."

"Would you take the contract?"

"No, I actually like Bill Gates." he laughed. "Also, a quarter million dollars for such a high-profile target is nowhere near enough. Not to mention that it would be exceedingly difficult to kill him in a way that won't make it look like an assassination."

"Why?"

"As far as I know, he cooks most of his own food, or has it cooked by trusted people, rarely eats out, rarely goes out except for official things where he's surrounded by other people and so on." he shrugged. "So either you accept a lot of collateral damage or you use a sniper rifle, which brings its own problems of law enforcement scrutiny."

Penny closed her eyes and fell asleep, napping until being shook awake by Leonard who had grabbed his bag. She nodded and quickly got dressed, Leonard waiting while she did it and before she left, she grabbed the poop bags and leashes so she could walk the dogs right after getting the car keys she needed.

"Ah, Leonard, good." an appearing Sheldon said, Amy right behind him.

"Morning Sheldon, Amy." Leonard greeted them.

"Penny, how are you feeling?" Amy asked.

"I feel fine, why?" Penny wondered.

"You drank quite a lot last night." Amy pointed out.

"Maybe she is used to drinking enormous amounts of alcohol." Sheldon suggested.

"I'm not." Penny defended herself.

"Penny, this is for you." Sheldon handed her two binders of documents.

"What's this?"

"Some knowledge for you to learn today." Sheldon stated, confirming what Leonard told her about his teaching methods. "Rajesh will question you about it tonight. I refrained from adding too much given that you still have to do some administrative work today."

"Thanks, I guess." she hesitated, not knowing what to say.

"Morning guys." Howard and Raj greeted them as they descended the stairs.

"Howard, we need two cars." Leonard started without preamble. "One for her and one I can use."

"No problem." Howard nodded and headed back into his apartment, returning a few seconds later with keys and papers. "Here you go. The cars are the same model, so no reason for you to haggle about who gets which one."

"Thanks, Howard." Leonard nodded and handed Penny one set.

"Ford?" Penny looked at the key. "Pickups?"

"No, regular cars." Howard said after closing the door and following them down.

"I'll go with Leonard." Sheldon proclaimed, making Amy join them.

"Great." Howard sighed in relief. "Finally some piece and quiet in the car."

"Very funny." Sheldon shook his head and got next to the passenger door of the car Leonard had chosen.

"Well, have fun at work, honey." Penny grinned and gave Leonard a kiss.

"Yeah, right." Leonard rolled his eyes, opening the car locks to get into the car that would take him to the job he didn't prefer. "Take care of my boys."

"Of course." Penny giggled, running her hands over both dogs, who whined a bit at Leonard's departure.

"We'll be back between five and six." Leonard called as they drove off.

"Well you two, lets get you to the park so you can do your business." Penny said and attached the leashes to the dogs before leading them to the same park Leonard had run in.

One dog held with each hand, she walked through the park, the canines often sniffing spots and peeing on them while at the same time ignoring other dogs that barked at them. That was probably the one thing Penny appreciated most about them, their training to not react to other dogs the same way because she knew that if both began dragging her, she wouldn't be able to stop them.

Thirty minutes into her walk, Tyson did number two, Penny not looking forward to having to pick it up. She used Leonard's trick of putting her hand into the bag first before grabbing onto the poop pile and pulling the bag around it. A quick knotting and the deed was done. Major took a few minutes more to decide, then also did his thing but unlike with Tyson, Penny had to use the trowel, which was a lot more difficult because it was hard to hold the bag open with one hand.

After walking for another thirty minutes, both dogs did another number two again, less that time than the first. Still, Penny had to fight the gag reflex when shoveling the poop into two bags, tying both off as fast as possible. Laden with four bags full of shit, she walked back to the apartment, depositing the animal waste into a specifically placed waste bin, glad to be rid of it.

On her way home, she stopped at a nearby pet supply store, buying a small bag do premium dog food and two bowls so they could eat something while she did the proper shopping. Fifteen minutes later, she was back in the apartment, filling the bowls with food and two more with water before grabbing Leonard's shopping list and heading back out.

A quick car ride later, she was back at the pet supply store, the clerk behind the counter giving her a questioning look before his expression turned to salivating at how much premium food she was buying. He even helped her carry them to the car, the three twenty pound bags quickly stored away, followed by the thirty cans of wet food.

The dog's food set for the month, she continued on to the grocery store, grabbing a cart before entering. Sighing at the amount on the list, she began walking taking everything that was written down, having to backtrack several to get things further down the list. It took her almost an hour to get everything and another ten minutes waiting at the checkout before she could pay the triple digit amount of money and wait on the bagger to finish packing her stuff into a large number of paper bags.

Sighing at the idea of having to make several trips to get everything into the apartment, she drove home. The first thing she did was take all the bags out of the trunk and place them inside the elevator, the fact that she was the only one in the building making it possible to keep one bag on the threshold of the door to keep it open. Once every bag was inside, she rode it up to the fourth floor and placed all of them in front of the apartment door. Lastly, she carried every bag to the kitchen island, taking a deep breath when she was finally done.

"Down!" she ordered when Major jumped up, his front paws on the kitchen island and trying to topple one of the bags to get a sniff of the contents.

Slowly but surely, she moved all the purchases into the fridge, cabinets and wherever else they need to go, the heavy dog food bags placed in the bottom cabinets. She flopped down onto the couch and took the reading material that Sheldon had given her, finding it filled with historical information about the organization. Some of it was stuff that Leonard already told her but when it came to the things that came hundreds of years ago, most of it seemed conjecture rather than hard facts.

Still, it was interesting material and she was determined to do a good job by actually learning the stuff instead of just memorizing it. She could never know if she might need it at some point.

Done with this chapter. Again, sorry for the long wait.

Review please :)