Exactly at 7am the alarm sounded. The sun was poking thru the crack in the curtains. Luke had been spooning Penelope, he reached over to grab and turn off his phone alarm. Penelope had slowly started to wake up and she turned to look at him.
"Morning" Penelope said then kissed him softly
"It's a great morning!" Luke said
They each stretched out ready to get up and start the day.
"Let's take a quick shower" Penelope said
"Let's do it."
It took them 45 minutes to wash up and dressed to head out. They mad their way down to the lobby to have breakfast.
"They have breakfast sandwiches with either bacon or sausage."
"Both sound good" Luke said
"We'll get one of each and share."
"Okay you get them and I'll get us coffee" Luke said
Once seated at a small table Penelope cut the sandwiches in half and each took a piece. She mixed in some sugar into her coffee with milk. Luke had a cup of black coffee.
"Do we need to call a cab or uber?" Penelope asked
"No need"
"How are we going to get to the planetarium?"
"We're going to take the subway" Luke said
"Oh, how safe it that?"
"Seeing as we're in Manhattan it's pretty safe, it's early and we'll stay aware. Plus, I know how the subways work."
"As long as I have you my dark knight by my side it should be fine."
"Right" Luke said
10 minutes later they finished, walked out of the hotel hand in hand and headed to the nearest subway stop.
They walked down to the platform and bought their metro cards. Swiped them and entered the main part of the platform. The subway car came to a stop in front of them, they got on and were on their way. Luke kept a hold of Penelope's hand.
"How long till we get there?" Penelope asked.
"Shouldn't be too long, we're about 6 blocks from where we need to be."
"Okay"
The subway beeps as it approaches each stop. Five minutes later they arrived at their stop 81st-museum of natural history. Walking up from the subway the sun was shining brightly, people were starting their routines. The planetarium was about a two-minute walk from the subway. They walked up to it, seeing a large white sphere encased by a glass building.
"Wow I wasn't expecting it to be that big".
"When I was in elementary school I came on a field trip here. Plus, it's part of the natural history museum. Out of everything the planetarium is my favorite." Luke said
"I loved doing art in school"
"Is that why you love color?" asked Luke as they walked into the planetarium.
"That's one reason and another is that we see so much gore in our line of work."
They got to the admissions window.
"Welcome to the Hayed Planetarium. How can I help you?" asked an elderly man
"Two for your next planetarium show" Luke said
"Okay the next show is at 8:45am. Your tickets include access to all exhibits and wings. Your total is $69.00."
Luke handed him the money.
"Thank you, enjoy the show and your visit" said the man with a smile
"Thanks" they walked away from the window.
"Well Pen, we have ten minutes before the show starts. Let's look around the theater before going in" Luke said
"Okay".
After they looked a little they went into see the show. The show featured the galaxies in the universe, the billions of stars in the universe and a few traveling comets that go past the earth every so many years. It lasted at total of an hour. After seeing the show, they walked and saw a few exhibits. Luke and Penelope finished up at 11:30am and were heading towards the exit.
"The star show was phenomenal!" Penelope said
"It was, now Central Park is next."
Luke once again had intertwined their hands. He always took advantage of holding her hand whenever he could but never did while on the job. They walked towards the street, when Penelope went to cross it Luke pulled her to a stop. He hailed a cab.
"I thought we were going to do the park."
"We are" a cab pulled up to them. "I think you'll love the way we're going to see it" Luke said and they both got in. They were taken to the farthest east end of the park and got down. Luke then lead her to an area that had horse drawn carriages.
"No way, are you serious?!" Penelope asked
"Yes, mi reina, I am."
They came up to a white carriage that was hitched to two black horses.
"Hi, we would like to go thru the park and end on the west end of it" Luke said to the man handling the carriage reins.
"Of course, no problem" said the man. Luke helped Penelope into the carriage and followed her.
"It'll be $30 dollars."
"Here you are" Luke said as he handed him the money. In return the man handed him a single red rose and winked, Luke smiled. He turned towards Penelope and handed her the flower.
"Aww…" Penelope said and smelled it. Luke sat down then the carriage began its trek thru the park. They were enjoying all the trees and people watching.
"Newbie – where do you see us in a few months, relationship wise?"
"Absolutely together, keeping our status on the down low until you're ready."
"Okay, in your big picture do you see us living together?"
"Yes, and much more. Why are you asking?" said Luke
"Well my lease will be up in a month and a half."
"Mine will be up in three."
"Would you want to move in together?"
"Yes, a thousand times yes! After your lease ends you can move into my place then we can decide if we renew there or find a new home" Luke said
"I can't wait!"
"When we get back you could start slowly moving your stuff to my place and what doesn't fit we can either put into storage or donate it to charity."
"That's a great idea!"
The carriage ride continued and they passed by the lake. Twenty minutes later the carriage came to a stop.
"Here we are" said the man handling the carriage. Luke got down and he helped Penelope off.
"Thank you" Luke said to the man. It was already 12:15pm.
"Where are we going to eat? I'm staring" Penelope said
"There is this great hot dog place that has the best smoothies."
"That sounds delicious."
Luke and Penelope walked for two blocks and came upon a corner spot painted yellow and red. The sign read: Papaya King. They walked in and looked at the menu, aside from hot dogs and smoothies they served sausage and curly fries. Each ordered the original combo: two franks, one with kraut and one with NY onions and a smoothie. Luke got a mango smoothie and Penelope got a banana strawberry one. Plus, they ordered curly fries to share. Their order was called out and Luke went to the counter to grab it.
"There really isn't a place to sit here" Penelope said
"If you don't mind we can walk back to the park and eat on a bench."
"I don't mind that at all!"
It took them ten minutes to walk back to the park. They found a bench near a fountain and sat down. A slight breeze started as they ate.
"This is really good".
"I'm glad you like it. After little league games my dad would always take me to Papaya King for dogs and smoothies. It became tradition and when I didn't play anymore we'd pick some up before watching a game at home" Luke said
Penelope smiled, "my mom and I would pick out one new recipe a month to try out."
"These are the types of traditions I hope to have with my own kids one day" Luke said
"Me too."
They finished their food and Luke threw the trash in a near by bin.
"What other food do I need to try while we're here?" Penelope asked
"Definitely pizza."
"We could do that for dinner."
"Yeah we'll get one and take it to the hotel" Luke said
"Pizza, a cozy bed and you sounds like a great night."
"You got that right chica". Luke said with a smirk. She wanted to wipe it off his face but she was enjoying it too much. He wrapped his arm around her to pull her close.
"I can't wait till Saturday, this will be my first Comicon" Luke said
"You're going to have a blast it's so much fun. One can buy comics, sit in panels, buy shirts, one of a kind items and a best costume contest."
"So, who am I entering as?"
"You're going to have to wait till Saturday."
"Oh, come on at least give me a clue" Luke said
"Fine, it's a couples costume. You gave me your size and I have yours all ready. You better not go thru my luggage because I'll know if you touched it."
Luke pouted a little bit.
"Have you dressed up for past comic cons you've been to?"
"This is the first one I'll be completely dressing up for".
"Really?" Luke asked
"Yeah, in the past I've hadn't been very motivated to do it"
"What was your motivation to do it this time?"
"I'm looking at it right now" Penelope said
Luke leaned in and kissed her. He pulled back and then she leaned towards him and kissed him. Penelope took out her phone - "Let's take a picture."
"Okay"
They squeezed closer together and Penelope held her phone out, set the shutter and pressed the button. The camera took a set of four pictures and captured a few different poses. One of them smiling toward the camera, a funny face one, one where Luke kissed Penelope on the cheek and the last one got them lip locked in a kiss. A person passing by said in a loud voice "get a room". They pulled back from the kiss. Penelope was blushing and Luke was chuckling. A total of an hour and a half was spent on that bench.
"How are you feeling chica?"
"I'm good having fun" Penelope said with a smile
"Tired?"
"Nope. Sitting here taking a break to eat has recharged me and I can go for the rest of the afternoon."
"Okay my pink energizer bunny! Let's go walk thru Time Square".
Penelope laughed not only at Luke's comment but also at the fact she was wearing a pink shirt and pink converse. She chose not to wear her signature heels since they would be doing a lot of walking on this vacation. The only exception was for her Comicon costume. They walked back to the subway station and went to Time Square.
After a 10-minute ride they arrived. Penelope looked at all the different billboards.
"There must be at least 15 billboards" Penelope said
"Yeah for everything from shoes to major movies. When it's all lit up it looks pretty cool."
"So, in the winter does it become a wonderland?" Penelope asked
"With the sidewalks covered in snow it has a magical feel. Just have to make sure to be bundled up because it gets cold."
For about an hour they walked leisurely around Time Square. After they took a seat on the Red Steps, that was smack dab in the middle of Time Square.
"This is cool, just sit here, people watch and take a break. You probably had fun on these when you were young."
"These weren't here back then. Abuela told me they put these in back in 08. The few times I have been able to come visit I've wanted to come but wasn't able to" Luke said
"It's a first for both of us"
"Yes mi reina, hopefully one of many".
It was already 4:30pm.
"Okay now I'm tired" Penelope said
"Alright, let's go pick up a pizza and head back to the hotel."
They took the subway back to the hotel and exited the subway stop. There was a pizzeria on the same street as the hotel, a 5-minute walk from it. Entering the pizzeria, they took in not only the delicious smell but the menu and what they could choose. After a few minutes they ordered a large pizza topped with pepperoni, bacon and jalapenos along with wings. Once give their food they went to their hotel room. Placing everything on the small table at the corner of the room. While Penelope plated up the food Luke turns on the tv and begins to channel surf. Both were sitting at the table.
"Oh, wait go back" Penelope said
He went back one channel.
"What's this?"
"The original Batman movie" Penelope said
"I think I saw it when I was 6. Don't remember much of it."
"Then let's watch it, it's about 10 minutes in. The actor who played Batman did a great job."
"I'm down for that."
They ate and watched the movie. After finishing up the food they cleaned up and then snuggled up on the bed. The movie ended at 9:30pm. Each one of them took a shower, put on their pajamas and got into bed.
"Finally, I get to sleep in and wake up with you in my arms. Soon it'll be a permanent arrangement."
"True, we'll have to take advantage of those times. When we don't have cases."
"Sounds wonderful, good night Pen."
"Good night Luke." She gave him a kiss that was intended to be a good night kiss but that lead into a full make out session. After a while they fell asleep wrapped up in each other.