8 – The Name's Creighton-Ward…Penelope Creighton-Ward

Tin-Tin often wondered whether Penny could ever have a relationship with a non-MI5/non-IR person simply because she had too many secrets. And that was before she spent her first night at Foxley-Heath.

Tin-Tin arrived right after breakfast, saying a quick greeting to her hostess before racing toward the bathroom. It had been a long trip and for the last hour of it, she'd suffered from the horrible combination of drinking too much coffee and being cooped up for too long.

After she'd washed her hands, she looked at herself in the large mirror over the sink. Thinking that she was worse for the wear after the trip, she opened one of the drawers in the cabinet to the right of the sink. She quickly found a suitable shade of lipstick and opened the tube.

It was hard to open at first, so Tin-Tin gave it a firm pull. When she did, it fell apart in an unexpected way and a small black component landed on the counter. Tin-Tin recognized it at once as one of Brains' listening devices. She shook her head, replacing the bug to the tube and thinking that it would be her luck to choose the lipstick that was actually a way to smuggle a spy device.

She gave up on the make-up, focusing on fixing her hair instead. Once she was confident that she was presentable, she left the bathroom and returned to the company of her girlfriend.

Tea time rolled around and they took tea in the parlor. When Penny was momentarily called away, Tin-Tin looked around the room aimlessly and sipped her tea. She found herself wishing she had some coffee instead.

Still waiting for Penny, she finished her tea. Used to doing things herself, Tin-Tin went to pour more tea for herself, keeping a hand on the top to avoid spilling. She had just put the teapot down, and was taking her first sip, when a voice said,

"Hello, Penny."

Tin-Tin nearly choked on her tea, having jumped and only half-swallowed in her shock. She started coughing up the hot liquid and the voice asked,

"Penny? Are you alright?"

The second time around, Tin-Tin recognized the voice.

"Mr. Tracy?" she asked between coughs.

"Tin-Tin?" he asked. "What are you doing on this line? Where's Penny?"

"Penny stepped out," Tin-Tin answered. "Are you talking to me through a teapot?"

Jeff didn't answer right away, obviously as confused as Tin-Tin, but neither had to work out the situation because it was just then that Penny returned.

"Are you alright, darling?" she asked Tin-Tin. "I heard some violent coughing."

"I'm fine," she assured the concerned aristocrat.

"Hello, Penny," Jeff's voice came again. Penny looked from the teapot to Tin-Tin, confusion on her face.

"Hello, Jeff," she answered politely. "Can I help you with something?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing," Jeff said. "You called me."

"But I didn't call you," Penny said.

"I think the teapot called him," Tin-Tin confessed.

"Oh," Penny said, the situation suddenly clear. "Well, while I have you, Jeff, there was something that I wanted to ask you."

"Sure thing, Penny."

"Do you remember that time you visited my sheep farm? Well, did you happen to leave a bright yellow shirt? I came across it and I want to return it if it's yours."

Tin-Tin sipped her tea, hoping the motion would hide her blush.

"Ah, yes," Jeff answered. "I was wondering what happened to that shirt. Thank you, Penny."

"No problem, Jeff."

"Well, I'll let you girls get back to whatever it is you're up to," he said. "Tin-Tin, I'll see you when you get back."

She just nodded, not wanting to trust her voice to say anything. Penny noticed her reluctance to speak, so she said, "Goodbye, Jeff," and touched the top of the teapot to close the link.

Penny picked up her teacup and sipped her drink before commenting,

"My, it's gone cold. I am sorry that I was away for so long. The Duchess just would not stop going on about her new butler."

"I just didn't expect your teapot to be a communicator," Tin-Tin said bashfully.

"Yes, I suppose I should have warned you," Penny conceded. "But, all is well. Why don't we take a walk in the gardens? It is a perfectly lovely day."

Tin-Tin nodded, grateful for the change of subject.

"That sounds wonderful," she commented.

A few minutes later, they were out in Penny's extensive gardens. They walked along the stone path hand in hand, Penny occasionally pointing out a flower or shrub and describing its importance. Tin-Tin listened with interest, taking every opportunity to watch the blonde.

Eventually they came to the center of the garden, taking a seat on a bench beside a large statue. Tin-Tin looked up at the beautiful work of art, marveling at the detail in the stone.

"It's Artemis, isn't it?" she asked.

"Indeed," Penny replied, smiling at Tin-Tin's knowledge of Greek and Roman mythology.

"I've always admired her," Tin-Tin added, still looking up at the statue beside her as Penny looked at her.

"As have I," Penny said softly. The gentleness in Penny's voice made Tin-Tin smile to herself, her heart warming with the affection.

A wave of tiredness suddenly hit Tin-Tin and she found herself yawning. She stretched her arms up as the yawn left her, her one hand accidentally banging against the statue.

"Oh," Tin-Tin said automatically, pulling her hand to her chest. Penny took Tin-Tin's hand in her own, examining the skin closely for any injury.

"Tin-Tin, darling, you do have a clumsy streak," she said.

Then the scream of sirens filled the air and Tin-Tin's entire body tensed at the piercing sound.

"What's happening?" she asked, her voice barely audible through the cacophony.

Instead of answering, Penny took Tin-Tin's hand and started walking at a hurried pace toward the house. When they came within view of the mansion, Tin-Tin could tell that something strange was happening. Grey metal plates covered the windows and doors and a red light was spinning on the roof. The sirens were even louder here.

Taking only a second to take in the scene, Penny led Tin-Tin to the mansion's back door. Once there, she opened a panel and typed something into a pad there.

Immediately everything went back to normal. The metal lifted from the doors and windows and the sirens cut off, leaving Tin-Tin's ears ringing.

The back door opened and Parker rushed out, his gaze finding his mistress calm and unharmed.

"H'is h'everything well, milady?" he asked, confusion obvious in his tone.

"All is well, Parker," she assured him. "The most dangerous thing here is Tin-Tin. She unknowingly activated the emergency lockdown with the hidden button on the Artemis statue."

"Very good, milady," Parker replied, turning to re-enter the house without another word. Penny turned to Tin-Tin to find the girl blushing.

"No harm done, my love," Penny said, lightly kissing Tin-Tin.

"I'm glad of it," Tin-Tin said, feeling a little better after Penny's attention.

Penny put out her hand for Tin-Tin to take, saying,

"Come on, let's find something to get your mind off things."

Tin-Tin nodded, eagerly following Penny inside.

Later that night, after an elegant and uneventful dinner, the women sojourned to Penny's enormous bathtub. They'd tied up their hair and sank into the hot, bubbly water. Penny sipped her tea, the teapot sitting innocently on the ledge beside the tub, and Tin-Tin leaned on her shoulder, playing with the bubbles with one hand and drawing lazy circles on Penny's thigh with the other.

"If I had a bathtub like this," Tin-Tin started, "I'd be in it every day and you'd have to drag me out."

Penny smiled at this, turning her head to kiss Tin-Tin's temple. The brunette took the opportunity of the blonde's closeness to dab bubbles on her nose. Penny pulled away and Tin-Tin laughed at the look of surprise on the aristocrat's usually composed face.

"The nerve," Penny said and Tin-Tin was about to do it again when the infernal teapot beeped and stopped Tin-Tin in her tracks.

"Are you going to answer it?" Tin-Tin asked seriously.

"It could be an emergency," Penny pointed out, reaching over to the teapot and pressing its top to activate the communicator.

"Penny here," she said, her tone relaxed and professional. Tin-Tin sank deeper into the water as though to hide from whomever was calling.

"Hey, Lady P!" The women recognized the voice immediately.

"Hello, Gordon," Penny said. "Can I help you with something?"

"Is Tin-Tin there?" he asked. "I wanted to ask her something." Penny and Tin-Tin looked at one another, guessing that Gordon's interruption was anything but innocent. Penny raised an eyebrow at her girlfriend, who shook her head.

"Sorry, Gordon," Penny said. "She's busy at the moment. Can I give her a message for you?"

"Is she right there?" Gordon pressed. "Are you two doing your creepy non-talking talking thing again? I swear, you can read each other's minds." Tin-Tin sank even deeper into the water and Penny said,

"Gordon, I don't have the slightest idea what you're talking about. And honestly, I'm hurt by your lack of trust in me."

"Well, I'm hurt by your lack of sharing," he answered. Then, with a sigh, he said, "Fine, I'll leave you two alone. But don't think that I won't interrogate Tin-Tin when she gets back."

"Goodbye, Gordon," Penny said, reaching up to break the link. Then, after a sigh and a sip of her tea, she whispered, "Insufferable."

With Gordon gone, Tin-Tin was able to relax again. She leaned against Penny, contentedly running her fingers along the outside edge of the tub as Penny leaned back and closed her eyes.

A moment later, there was a knock on the door and Parker's voice, muffled through the wood, asked,

"Did you require something, milady?"

Tin-Tin froze and Penny looked over to see the girl's hand resting on the lip of the tub.

"No, it's alright, Parker," she called back. "Tin-Tin accidentally pressed the call button."

Tin-Tin pressed her face into Penny's shoulder and groaned as Parker said,

"Very good, milady."

Once she was sure Parker had left, Penny chuckled and kissed Tin-Tin's hair.

"It turns out you are quite the troublemaker," she said.

"I'm sorry," Tin-Tin muttered against Penny's skin. "You didn't tell me that your entire house is booby-trapped."

"Well, I'm just relieved that I had the good sense to refrain from installing video capabilities into my teapot."

Tin-Tin's mouth fell open at that and she whispered,

"Could you imagine? Gordon would have been over the moon."

"Nevermind Gordon," Penny said, putting her teacup down on the ledge beside the teapot. "I'm more concerned with you at the moment."

Penny grabbed Tin-Tin's waist and pulled her into a kiss. Tin-Tin quickly forgot all about Gordon and everything else.

Around 2am, Tin-Tin woke to the utter darkness of Penny's bedroom. She couldn't see her girlfriend, but she could hear her gentle breathing. Penny was always so quiet and still in sleep. Tin-Tin wondered whether this, too, was a part of her agent training or just a product of her personality.

Putting her musing aside, Tin-Tin tried to determine what had woken her in the first place. She realized that she had to take a trip to the bathroom, but she was afraid to walk through the dark room. At the least, she expected to stub her toe. At the worst, she worried that she'd trigger another one of Penny's hidden buttons.

Tin-Tin reached for the lamp on the night table on her side of the bed, hoping the light wouldn't wake Penny. She fumbled around for the switch, realizing that she didn't know where it was since she'd hadn't used it before.

She hadn't even succeeded at turning on the light when a car horn started blaring through the silent night.

Tin-Tin felt Penny sit up beside her immediately.

"What is going on?" she asked, her soft voice tired and fuzzy.

"I'm not sure," Tin-Tin answered.

The light on Penny's side of the bed flicked on and the woman got out of bed, hurrying over to the window. She pulled aside the curtains and peered out. Tin-Tin moved to stand behind her, looking out the window to the front driveway.

Penny's beloved Rolls was driving itself in circles, incessantly honking its horn.

"It's driving itself!?" Tin-Tin asked, stunned. Penny let out a small sigh of understanding. She turned to Tin-Tin and the girl was amazed by how Penny looked immaculate at two in the morning.

"Tin-Tin," she started carefully, "did you happen to fiddle with the lamp on your side of the bed?"

Tin-Tin just nodded.

Penny calmly walked over to the lamp and turned its base. At once, the honking ceased and there was the sound of a car driving away.

"All fixed," she announced. "Shall we return to bed?"

"Is everything in this house secretly something else?" Tin-Tin asked, exasperated.

"Don't be upset, dear," Penny said, stepping toward Tin-Tin and putting a comforting hand on her arm. "This is the secret agent's life. I understand if it's a bit of an adjustment at first."

Tin-Tin nodded weakly and then leaned forward, resting her forehead wearily on Penny's shoulder. Penny wove her fingers into Tin-Tin's soft hair, pulling her closer.

"Are you alright?" she asked softly.

"Yes," Tin-Tin whispered.

"Then let's get to bed. You'll feel better in the morning."

Then Tin-Tin remembered why she'd gotten up. She pulled away from Penny and said,

"I'll be right back." With a smirk, Penny replied,

"I'll keep the light on. Try not to cause any more disasters before you get back."

Tin-Tin smiled and promised,

"I'll do my best."