Disclaimer: The State Inn is NOT (repeat, NOT) the State Plaza Hotel. It is a product of my own imagination. Everything else is, well, not mine.

Chapter Six:

Every Day's Like an Open Door

"Penny," she heard him murmur. "Penny, wake up. We're here."

She fluttered her eyelids open drowsily. "Unnh?"

"This is our stop!" Tracy piped up. "C'mon!"

Penny suddenly remembered where she was. She hopped out of her seat, grabbed her suitcase, and hurried off the train after Seaweed.

It was two days after Penny's accident, and the doctor had released her a day before they'd expected. She had recovered completely, and the early release gave her time to pack and let her mother fawn all over her. (The poor woman had even tried to cook, with disastrous results. Penny had eaten it to please her, but the gunk had tasted worse than the hospital food.)

Once the subway had sped away, Ms. Maybelle did a very brief head count. "Do we have all four?" she asked, even though she had already counted.

"Yes," the four antsy teenagers chorused with a hint of impatience. Penny's mind was racing with the possibilities of a week in D.C. Imagine getting to hear Dr. King speak! she thought excitedly.

Ms. Maybelle grinned. "All right, then, what are we waiting for?"

Giggling and shouting as only teenagers could, the foursome hurried off the platform to the streets of Washington, D.C. Ms. Maybelle flagged down a cab, and (after much squeezing, resulting in Ms. Maybelle sitting in the front passenger seat) they were off to the State Inn.

The door slowly opened, and the little group of travelers stepped into their suite.

Penny gasped. "It's beautiful!"

It was. There was red plush carpet on the floors; a balcony with a view of the Washington Monument; a very comfortable-looking sofa with a view of a small television; a kitchenette, complete with a refrigerator and small stove; a table-and-chair set, and four doors leading to other rooms in the suite.

"Now, the people I talked to on the phone told me this suite had three bedrooms: two with two beds, and one with one bed. That one's mine," Ms. Maybelle instructed. "Y'all can choose who gets which room among yourselves, but the girls and boys must stay apart from each other." She smiled. "I believe in integration, but I have to draw the line somewhere." Penny looked at Seaweed and giggled sheepishly before going with Tracy to claim their room.

"Isn't it gorgeous?" Tracy sighed as she gazed out over the Reflecting Pool.

"Yeah," Penny answered absently as she continued to unpack her suitcase. She came to the last item and froze. She glanced at Tracy, who was totally entranced by the monument, and quickly shoved the shirt under her pillow.

Suddenly Tracy looked puzzled. She turned to Penny and asked, "Did you just stuff something under your pillow?"

Penny's heart raced. "No, no, I didn't put anything under my pillow, what would make you think that?" She laughed nervously.

Tracy's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Yes you did. What is it?"

Penny bit her lip, sighed, and very slowly removed the white cotton T-shirt from under her pillow. "It's just a shirt."

Tracy raised her eyebrows. "It looks a little big for you."

This was one of those moments when Penny wished she weren't so skinny. "It's a… nightshirt." Well, it was certainly a shirt she used at night…

Tracy got up from the window seat and sat on her bed, across from Penny. "So why is it under your pillow?"

Penny sighed. Tracy was impossible to lie to. "It's Seaweed's. I kind of took it from his bedroom a few weeks ago. It's kinda stupid, but I fall asleep hugging it every night." She blushed. "It smells like him…"

Tracy smiled. "Awww! That's not stupid, Penny. It's sweet." They sat there for a minute, and suddenly Tracy perked up.

"Hey, do you know what you should do?"

"What?"

You should tell Seaweed to meet you in there some night," she pointed towards the main room connecting all three bedrooms, "and cozy up on the couch a little bit, maybe even—"

Penny squealed. "Tracy! With his mother in the next room? I… I couldn't!"

Tracy held her palms up in mock surrender. "Just a suggestion."

SEAWEED'S POV

Seaweed was so engrossed in the hustle and bustle below his window that he barely noticed Link poking around in his things… until he heard a sigh and an "Oh, boy," from behind him. He turned around and saw Link holding a handkerchief by a corner.

"What's with the fancy Kleenex?" Link asked suspiciously.

"Ah… it's just one of Momma's hankies. How did that get in there?"

Link sniffed it. "It smells like Penny's perfume."

Seaweed panicked. He tried stalling. "How would you know what Penny's perfume smells like?"

"She's been practically bathing in the stuff since you got it for her." Link stared hard at Seaweed until, finally, he cracked.

"I, ah, might have put some of that stuff on the hankie." He sighed. "I don't know, lately I've just been going nuts. Like a few weeks ago, one of my favorite old shirts just disappeared. I looked everywhere and just couldn't find the old thing. Penny had just left, so I guess I was a little out of it." He shrugged. "I'll find it eventually."

Link shook his head. "Man, you've got it bad."

Seaweed sighed. "Yeah, I know."

Link looked mischievously at him. "You know, you should try and get Penny alone some night in that room over there," he suggested, pointing to the main room, "you know, and try to get a little action…"

Seaweed looked at him distastefully. "If it's all the same to you, I'd rather wait on that one."

Link huffed. "I wasn't talking about that. I agree with you on that. I was just thinking you could make out or something."

"With my momma in the next room? Try again, cracker boy."

Link looked a little unsettled. He still wasn't sure what that nickname meant. "Just saying, is all, man."

A/N: Sorry, guys. This seems a little like a filler chapter, I know (and I have to warn you, the next chapter's gonna be a little fluffy), but it made sense to try and get the gang settled in before sending them off to see Dr. King. (And, yes, I'm actually going to include parts of his speech in the story.)