Penny has a panic attack and I attempt to incorporate backstory.

Taking Advantage of Opportunities

There's boredom, and then there's boredom when the world is coming to an end. Which may or may not be a lot more like anxiety than boredom.

The to do list her mother left for her is already finished, speaking volumes to Penny's boredom considering it wasn't even noon yet. Her mom had gone to the Watanabes that morning. Will and her dad were off looking for Robot. She'd rigged a beacon for their chariot like she had before. Her pleas to go with them had earned her merely an amused look.

Seriously, if they lived to father's day Penny was going to write him a very stern review!

If being the operative word.

"Judy!" Penny banged on the door of the med bay, "Please tell me you have *something* I could do right now."

The door swished open. Judy was frowning at her, "I'm trying to concentrate. That's why the door was closed."

"I thought you were just avoiding me, ya know, because you're still grumbling about the whole 'electric kiss' thing."

The frown was now a full on scowl.

"I'm not grumbling, Penny, I'm concerned." Judy gestured back into the med bay, "How can you be joking about this? For all you know, the only reason you even wanted to kiss him is because of what happened with the water. We have no idea what impact it's having on you."

Penny rolled her eyes, arms crossed, "I wanted to kiss him *before* the water, Jude." She shrugged, "Besides, Vijay is nice. It's not like I'm kissing some jerk."

"You barely know him," Judy crossed her own arms, hip jotting out, "You met him a week ago, while blackmailing him."

"Which he didn't narc on me for," Penny pointed out, smirking.

Judy huffed, hand reaching for the door's controls, "He's 16, an alpha, you're an omega, I can think of plenty of reasons he'd keep that to himself that have nothing to do with being 'nice.'"

The door slid closed again. If Judy could have slammed it, she probably would've.

Penny certainly wanted to slam a door.

"Way to spoil a perfectly awesome memory for me!" Penny shouted at the door. She also wanted to stomp away. But crutches and automatic doors were determined to keep her down.

It was absolutely ridiculous! Judy was just being a pessimist. Or a killjoy. Same difference.

Vijay was sweet. He'd been nothing but since… well, technically he'd called out that other alpha before they met. And while it was *possible* he'd done that to get her attention, she'd been the one seeking him out so it was…

Well, technically that could've been on purpose. Vijay was smart. And he'd read her file so he probably could've *guessed* her reaction.

Great. Now Judy had *her* freaking out about Vijay's intentions.

"Completely ridiculous!" Penny told herself, voice significantly higher pitched than she wanted it to be.

"What's ridiculous?"

Penny whipped around, nearly tripping on the walking cast Judy had given her this time. Smith was leaning against the doorway of the center room. Or, well, sort of draped. It was really quite cool how Smith managed to look so casual at all times.

It was also suspicious.

"It's nothing," Penny shook her head. Her fingers fidgeted as she wrung her hands in front of her stomach.

Smith hummed, one side of her mouth curving up as she nodded her head. She started to leave, just slipping backwards from the doorway.

"Judy just said something that…" Penny started, pursing her lips to stop herself. She fessed up, hands squeezing into fists, "…I mean, she could be right, but I don't think she is. And it's totally ridiculous that I'm second guessing my judgement just because she's always gotta be right about everything, just like mom. I am a really good judge of character and she's just being paranoid, but now *I'm* being paranoid and. It's just all ridiculous."

Taking a deep breath, Penny squeezed her eyes shut. She hadn't meant to say all that. At all.

And it probably didn't even make sense.

"This is about Vijay right?" Smith tilted her head, a soft smile on her face.

Or it was completely obvious.

"He's an alpha, you're an omega. Certain stereotypes could be applied," Smith shrugged as she stepped into the room. Slinking slightly. "I've been there."

Penny's eyes fluttered and her mouth fell open, "You're an omega?"

Smith smirked, nodding, "Suppressants since I was 13. Most people barely bat an eyelash at my scent now. Luckily, Dr. Watanabe was willing to share his supply with me."

Taking a seat at the table, Penny leaned over her folded arms, "So, what do you think, do you agree with Judy?"

"It doesn't matter what I think," Smith shrugged, leaning forward over the table to squeeze her wrist, "It only matters what you think. Like you said, you're a good judge of character."

"But-"

"Nope. Don't underestimate yourself, Penny. Everyone else will do that for you," Smith shook her head, lips pursing.

Eyebrow raising, Penny asked, "Is that what happened to you?"

Smith nodded, arms gesturing wide in a large shrug, "Ever since I presented. My mom. My sister. I went from being the big sister responsible for her to…"

"…the one she had to look out for?" Penny offered, eyes flicking to the door of the med bay.

"Exactly," Smith's lips twitched down, "Not an easy transition for me."

It was not a reality Penny wanted to consider, especially considering Will was probably gonna be presenting as an alpha in a few years.

"Honestly, the worst bit was everyone thinking I was going to throw myself at some alpha," Smith rolled her eyes, scoffing, "That's why my mother put me on suppressants. Keep the alphas away." She did a little head wiggle, almost laughing, "Overprotective family can be annoying sometimes, but it shows they care."

"Yeah, I guess," Penny frowned, nose wrinkling as Judy's words played on her head again, "But you look out for yourself just fine. I mean, you're here, on this mission. You're a doctor."

"And Dr. Watanabe is one of the best xenobiologists from Earth, but I bet he's got a few stories just like mine."

Penny's not sure if Smith is comforting her or not at this point. But… she wasn't lying. She remembered her mom mentioning Hiroki the first time she met him, commenting that he was an omega. No one ever mentioned when people were alphas or betas.

"So, what do I do?" Penny looked up at Smith, eyes wide.

She was leaning over the back of a chair, head tilted at a weird angle, "That's not the question, Penny." She shifted her feet, moving closer and lowering her voice, "The question is: What do you want? And how do you get it?"

That was a good question.

"I have no idea."

Smith slipped away after that, leaving Penny sitting at the table, lost in thought. Mildly panicking.

Her first thought was that she wanted Vijay. Which was as equally terrifying as Judy's paranoid thoughts would be if they were true.

She blamed his smell. It smelled familiar, she liked it, but she couldn't place it. Penny was an overly curious person. Not her fault. She was just… interested. In him. In his scent.

Which of course begged the question, was she interested in him because of his scent? Or was she interested in his scent because of him?

She officially felt like a cliche teen romcom movie. One that had been remade too many times before she'd even been born.

Her chest felt tight, like she couldn't breath.

Mostly because she couldn't.

Lungs burning, breaths wheezing, Penny realized she was having a panic attack about three seconds after she ducked her head between her knees.

Eight counts were annoying. They were also effective, but that didn't make her feel better.

It was such a dumb reason to have a panic attack. She'd found out the world was literally ending the night before. But no, this is what she was having a panic attack over. Over a boy!

Granted, he was a cute boy, a smart boy, a boy she maybe might like a lot more than she really understood. And yeah, maybe there was some urgency to figure out *why* she liked him considering the world was ending.

Penny really wished her brain came with a mute button.

Her vision swam for a moment and she squeezed her eyes shut. For a second, she felt utterly calm. Content even. Like she was warm and safe and. Then the panic attack came rushing back and she had to start the damn eight counts ago.

Did she mention she hated eight counts?

-.-.-

"Hey now, we just gotta breath," John spoke in soothing tones. He had a hand on either of her arms, rubbing up and down her biceps over her sweater.

"How the hell am I suppose to breath when our entire planet is being consumed by a dust cloud!" Penny tried to shout, but it came out more like a stuttering sob. Her lungs were already burning and she hadn't even gone outside yet.

John took in a long, slow breath. He maintained eye contact as he did it. He let it out just as slow, exaggerating the movements. He repeated it three more times before Penny found herself mimicking him.

It wasn't on purpose. But it was helping. The fire in her lungs abated.

"Eight in, eight out," John reached up with one hand, cupping her face, "It'll work every time, I promise."

Penny huffed, nodding. In a whisper, she asked, "And you'll come back, right?"

He never promised that.

-.-.-

"Penny?"

Her head shot up, hitting the edge of the table. She winced, hand flying to her soon to be bruise.

Unfortunately, Penny had not imagined the voice and Vijay was actually there. Having witnessed that.

Yay.

"You okay?" Vijay was walking closer, frowning. When he reached the table, his hand moved towards her head before he snatched it back. He pursed his lips, blush rising on his cheeks, "I, uh, I didn't mean to scare you."

"Startled," Penny corrected him, finger pointed at his face. She moved it side to side, "Not scared."

"Got it," he ducked his head, lips twitching up.

Penny stood up, hand rubbing at the bump on her head, "What are you doing here anyway?"

"Uh…" his face went as red as a beet and Vijay started rubbing at his neck.

"Nervous huh?" Penny quirked a brow at his hand. His face got redder and his eyes became very interested in the walls.

She wanted to kiss him.

If the planet was dying and they were going with it, Penny wanted to spend as much time as possible before then kissing Vijay.

Now she just had to figure out how to make that happen. Something told her the center of her family's jupiter was not the place to try.

"Come on," Penny grabbed his hand and tugged him with her as she walked to her bunk. As the door slid closed behind him, Vijay tucked both his hands in his pockets. He rocked backwards on his heels.

"So… I might've, theoretically, snuck out," Vijay admitted, haltingly.

Penny grinned wide and plopped down on the floor beside her bed. "I knew you were the bad influence."

"Am not," Vijay huffed, rolling his eyes as he took a seat beside her. He pulled a knee up to rest his arms on, "I was just… worried."

"About me?" Penny narrowed her eyes, head turning slightly.

He bit at his bottom lip, nodding. His throat bobbed, "Yeah." Gaze flicking from her face to the floor and then back, Vijay licked at his lip. "I was just messing around on my tablet, then my vision like… darkened. And I could feel you panicking. So…"

"So you came to check on me?" Penny hummed, one eyebrow arching. She wasn't sure she liked the idea of him checking up on-

"Duh," Vijay snorted, shrugging, "You don't exactly panic easily. I saw you attack a dinosaur with a broken foot last night."

Penny flushed. Well, that was sort of flattering. She cleared her throat, "Technically, it's my ankle. Not my foot."

With a quick glance at her cast - which covered her entire foot as well as the ankle - he chuckled, drawing out the word slowly, "Right."

"Good to know the double vision peeks go both ways," Penny shrugged. She shifted sideways, curling her legs underneath her as she faced him, "What were you doing anyway? You felt…" she squinted slightly, "…very content."

Vijay smiled softly, lips pulling up on either side, "My dad was playing music, working on some impossible math problem that he says helps him think. Muttering to himself. I always feel better when he does that."

"Really? Why?" Penny asked.

Much to her surprise, he didn't duck his head as his smile widened. A proper grin spread over his face. His eyes practically shimmered with joy as the corners crinkled.

Best smile she'd ever seen. Penny felt warmer just basking in it.

"Reminds me of being little I guess. When it was just my dad and I most of the time, he'd take me to the university with him." Vijay ruffled the hair on the back of his head, "I'm probably the only toddler who sat in on lectures about nonlinear equations and chaos theory."

"I have no idea what those are, so I'll take your word for it," Penny swiped her tongue over her bottom lip.

He knocked her leg with his arm lightly, "So. What were you doing?"

"Panic attack?" Penny grimaced, shrugging widely. "Over something stupid." Vijay arched a brow. She blew out a breath, "Yeah, I'd feel better if I'd been panicking about the planet dying, but-"

Vijay's eyes widened, "The planet is what?"

"Oh yeah…" Penny pursed her lips, "I haven't told you about that yet…"

"No. You haven't," his eyebrows rose higher.

Penny gestured out, "Something about our orbit. I only heard the end of the conversation, but apparently this planet won't sustain life soon. And we're gonna have earthquakes soon."

With a breathy laugh, Vijay ran a hand over his face. Penny smiled tightly.

"On the upside, Hiroki's samples are apparently some sort of possible answer."

"Okay," Vijay blew out a breath. He shook his head and looked at Penny, gaze intent, "If that wasn't what caused your panic attack, what the hell did?"

She clenched her jaw, teeth practically grinding against each other. There were many things she'd rather talk about than this. Many things she'd rather be doing.

Without another thought, Penny moved forward, throwing a leg over Vijay's lap so she was straddling him. The knee he'd pulled closer to his chest was now pushing her up against him, providing a nice back support to her position. She wrapped both arms around her neck.

Vijay raised a brow as Penny smirked at him, "Hey, if we're about to die, gotta take advantage of every opportunity." His lips twitched up before Penny lowered her face to his.

A shock passed between them as their lips connected, pushing against each other firmly. Penny's fingers curled into his hair. Vijay slid his hand over her waist.

"I'm aware you're distracting me," Vijay said against her lips, shifting to change the angle of their heads. He nipped at her bottom lip, "Just for the record."

Penny hummed, slipping her tongue into his mouth. She pressed her chest against his. The electricity shooting through her body egged her onward. Vijay groaned as she moved her hips.

A hand squeezed at the back of her thigh as she canted her hips forward. The other moved from her waist upwards. His whole body radiated heat beneath her and Penny panted as his palm moved over her side.

Part of her was glad she was wearing a thin tshirt. Another side was needling beneath her ribs, little shocks zipped back and forth from him to them.

"How many languages do you speak?" Penny asked in a gasp before their lips collided again.

"Three," Vijay answered, eyes fluttering.

Everything was hard, and moist, and Penny felt like she couldn't breath again but this time she never wanted to catch her breath. His hands settled on her hips, stilling them as he focused all of his attention on kissing her.

"Tell me why you had a panic attack," Vijay huffed out, mouth moving along her jawline. Her heart practically skipped as his mouth ghosted past the top of her scent gland. He nipped at her ear, tongue tracing over the pulse point behind it.

She'd blame it on the overwarm feeling building beneath her gut, or the hard pressure of his erection pressing against clitoris, or even the deep croak of his voice. Point was, she caved. His fingers tight on her hips and hers clawing desperately through his hair.

"Judy said stuff. And Smith. And I just…" she panted, pursing her lips as Vijay lifted a hand to slip into her hair.

He held the back of her head in his palm and pressed his forehead against hers. He kissed her again, chaste, quick. Barely a peck. Vijay's eyes were staring into her, dark and wide and boring into her soul.

"I was… I was worried about why you liked me. Why I like you."

Vijay's lips curled and he chuckled into her shoulder, head falling forward.

"Are you seriously laughing at me?"

"No?" Vijay said, lips twisted in a smirk as he raised his head again, "But my mom might have said something like that when lecturing me about going off with you."

Penny raised a brow, "And this is funny?"

"It is if you know she married my dad three weeks after meeting him." Penny's mouth fell open as Vijay started laughing again, head falling back against her bunk.

"Judy would blow a whole gasket if she knew that!" Penny giggled, hand rising to her mouth as she tried to cover her laughter. She shook her head, shifting in his lap so she could look down at him.

Grinning, Vijay traced fingers up her spine, "Maybe make sure I'm not in swinging distance when you throw it at her. Judy seems like she could take someone apart if she wanted."

"You are not wrong," Penny leaned down to kiss him lightly, whispering against his lips, "But I promise to protect you."

Their mouths sealed together. Lips buzzing as electricity zipped back and forth. Penny pressed down against him, hands gripping against his chest and fingers twisting in his shirt.

Again, the overwarm feeling spread over her body. Vijay's tongue traced the ridges on the roof of her mouth and a burst of shock ran up her spine.

Her hair was most definitely rising up with the static clinging to the air. Penny didn't really care.

Vijay was holding her hips. Probably the only reason she wasn't moving against him again. Fingers slipped beneath the fabric of her shirt, simply pressing skin to skin.

Stars exploded behind her eye lids. Her body stiffened for half a second and Vijay groaned as Penny's nails dug into his shoulders through his shirt. He slid his right hand beneath her shirt, flattening his palm against her back.

Penny kissed him harder. She raised a hand to run it through his hair, gripping firmly at the dark strands.

The door slide upon behind them, and someone cleared their throat. Neither of them noticed until Victor raised his voice, "Vijay!"

Breaking apart, Vijay's eyes rose to meet his father's. Victor stood in the doorway with John Robinson, both of them frowning.

"So," Vijay cleared his throat, "I hear the planet is dying." Penny snorted, ducking her head to hide a smile in Vijay's shoulder.

Behind her, Victor tossed his head back, eyes squeezed shut, "Grant me strength."

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