A/N: Thank you for your concern about Penny (and all of the wonderful, always-welcome reviews), but all I have to say is: Oh, ye of little faith.

Disclaimer: I do not own any direct quotes from the musical. (See if you can find it for yourself…)

Chapter Five:

The Road We Must Travel

SEAWEED'S POV

Seaweed stood silently in front of the door to Penny's room at Bethesda Memorial Hospital. He took a deep breath, opened the door, and went in.

The little room was sparsely furnished, there was a chair, and a bed, and a little table with a telephone on it. The wallpaper was cream, and… well, it didn't exactly look like the first thing you'd want to see after waking up from a three-day sleep.

He sat down in the chair beside her bed and watched her… well, the best way to describe it was sleep. The doctor said she had passed out when her head hit the ground, and had suffered a bad concussion. She looked pale and thin, but strangely peaceful. He touched her face; was it warmer than it had been yesterday, or was that his imagination?

"Hey, Penny," he whispered. "How've you been?" He didn't expect her to answer, and she didn't. "Your momma's carrying on something fearful," he continued. "My momma wants to carry on a little, I can tell, but she's too busy telling your momma to stop carrying on. She's staying with us, you know. She said your house was just getting to be too empty." He stopped. Could she hear him? Maybe he was upsetting her.

He took her hand and felt for a pulse, but he couldn't tell whether there was really blood moving through her veins or not. He dropped her hand. Hesitantly, he knelt down beside her and put his ear over her heart.

He sighed with relief. Her heartbeat had gone from an almost inaudible Thump…Thump…Thump to a slightly louder Thump. Thump. Thump to today's Thump, thump, thump over the past few days. He stayed there, listening to her heartbeat, the sweetest beat he had ever heard in all his years of dancing…

PENNY'S POV

Everything was dark. There was a strong smell of peroxide and bleach mixed with… coffee. Coffee and cologne.

Seaweed.

Wherever she was, Seaweed was with her, and that made everything OK.

She was suddenly aware of a weight on her chest, just over her heart. There was a warm wetness there, too; was she bleeding? She opened her eyes and lifted her head slightly so she could see her chest.

She didn't know whether to laugh or cry when she saw Seaweed sitting on the floor, his ear to her breast, crying with relief because he could hear her heartbeat; so she did both.

"Seaweed," she whispered hoarsely when she could speak again.

She would never forget the look of pure joy on his face when he wordlessly embraced her.

She hugged him back, and then propped herself up on her elbows and kissed him. He kissed her back, burying his hands in her hair first, and then slowly moving them down her back. He rubbed her back gently, reluctantly backing away after a nurse walked in on them. Still, that didn't stop him from sitting on the bed and holding her hand.

"Sorry." Seaweed smiled sheepishly. "I just thought I might not get to do that ever again."

"It's perfectly fine," Penny said, grinning impishly at him. "I guess they know I'm awake now."

Seaweed suddenly snapped into Dad Mode. "Yeah… Um, how are you feeling?"

"Like I got run over by a truck."

"Actually, it was a Buick…"

"What was that?"

"Nothing. I mean, are you hungry or anything? 'Cause there's a cafeteria right downstairs and I could get you something."

"Seaweed, I'm hungry, but I can very well get something to eat by myself." Penny got up, got dizzy, and immediately fell right back onto the bed. "Or… you could go get it if you want."

He grinned and kissed her on the cheek. "Whatever you say, my princess," he said, heading out of the room.

Once he was gone, she sighed. "He's so nurturing," she murmured.

SEAWEED'S POV

Seaweed was back within a few minutes, carrying a tray full of food. He tried not to look at it—he'd attempted to earlier, but couldn't do it without grimacing. He smiled at Penny, while trying not to look at the food or inhale the scent of it—it sure didn't smell like it was good for you. "Room service," he said lightly as he placed the tray on her lap. He was faintly worried that she might not eat it; she had to eat something to keep up her energy, and this was the cheapest food within a five-mile radius.

He hadn't counted on the fact that Penny hadn't eaten in three days, she was ravenously hungry, and she probably wouldn't have time to examine the food in front of her before shoveling it in her mouth. The tray was empty in less than fifteen minutes.

Penny blushed. "Wow… I felt like I hadn't eaten in three days… sorry to act like such a pig."

Seaweed winced. This was going to be the difficult part. "You haven't. Eaten in three days, I mean."

Penny's mouth dropped. "I haven't? But it's late afternoon! I've only been out for a few hours!"

Seaweed closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Penny," he said softly, "what's the last day you remember?"

Penny looked puzzled. "Monday."

"Today's Thursday."

Her eyes widened in shock. "Oh," she murmured. They sat in silence for a few minutes. "So… what happened on Monday?" she asked. "It's all sort of a blur… something hit me from behind, and I fell, and then everything just went dark."

Seaweed explained. "A car ran off the road and hit you. We—Tracy and I—had to call an ambulance, and we went with you to the hospital. They got you settled in and told us you'd have to stay here for awhile... probably a few days after you woke up." He didn't mention that the doctor had said, "if she wakes up". No need to upset her further.

Penny nodded thoughtfully, and Seaweed took yet another deep breath. 'God, I hope I got some acting skills from Momma,' he thought as he contemplated his next words.

"You know what?" he said, suddenly looking more animated. "After you get out of here—probably on Monday or Tuesday at the latest—I wanna take you somewhere."

Penny brightened. "Oh, Seaweed, that's so sweet of you! There's a little French restaurant opening up downtown, but we could just as easily go to the chicken-and-waffles place, whatever you want."

"Actually, I was thinking outside of town… like D.C.!"

Penny smiled. "Seaweed, that's so nice of you, but I've been to Washington four times at least. You don't have to spend all that money for little me."

Seaweed grinned. "What if I told you Dr. King was speaking there, and I've invited Tracy and Link to go with us, and Momma was so excited when she heard you were coming that she got us a three-bedroom suite at the State Inn?"

Penny's mouth dropped. "Oh my gosh… Seaweed… you… I… Oh, all right, of course I'll come!"

"Great!" Seaweed hugged her, inwardly heaving a sigh of relief. The real reason he wanted to take Penny to Washington—and the others agreed with this—was that he couldn't risk having her attacked again. He couldn't let there be a next time.

They might succeed if there was a next time.

A/N: Wow! I think this might be the longest chapter! Sorry to flim-flam with the POV, it just made more sense that way.