Penny hated this. Hated standing around. Moist was at her side, only sitting. She was standing, in the corner. It was so quiet here. There was nothing to look at that wouldn't make her tear up. Moist reached out and touched her arm carefully, she didn't move. It reminded him an awful lot of Billy. Poor Billy. He was always too nice to be a villain. He wasn't that bad of a guy, he didn't fit in with the ELE. He never would, not unless something horrible happened to him. Not this kind of horrible, but an emotional kind of horrible. Moist always wondered why his friend had wanted to join ELE. They were mean, they killed people, they hurt people… and Billy wouldn't do that. But he had wanted to join, and look where it got him.

Penny looked at the henchman when the hand on her arm started to shake.

"Moist?"

"He hated hurting people. He hated it. Why did he want to join the League? I never understood it. I never will."

"You might."

"I don't think I ever will."

"You will." She knelt down, taking his damp face in her hands. "He'll be okay Moist."

"How do you know that?! He, he was so…"

"I know Moist, I know." Their roles were so reversed. Moist was always the one that was together, the one that could hold everything back, could look at a situation as though he wasn't the one doing it. As though he was outside, looking in, looking on. And she was the one that was emotional, the one that had to take everything personal. Why were they this way? Why had they suddenly changed seats?

"Doctor Horrible, anyone here for Doctor Horrible?" Moist and Penny had planned this on the way over. Billy's name couldn't be given. Penny had nothing to do with Horrible, she was there to thank him for saving everyone at the shelter; their representative. Moist was his henchman, of course he was going to be there. And Penny was talking to him to get to Horrible, to calm the man, to be the helpful girl people knew her to be.

"I am." Moist stood, knees shaking. "Is, is he…?"

Moist's head went back to the many times that Billy was hurt by Hammer. The many times that he had wrapped bruised ribs, re-located shoulders, was Billy's crutch when his knee was blown. It seemed almost every week something was medically wrong with his friend. He wasn't doing anything wrong really. Sure, taking money in a bank heist wasn't exactly legal… but when you compared it to what Hammer did… Hammer enjoyed hurting Billy. Billy had only "hurt" two people; one kid with an asthma attack, and now Hammer with a bruise… if there even was a bruise.

Billy wasn't a villain. He wasn't evil. He liked to think he was, he liked to say he was… but he wasn't. He wasn't a hero either. Well, today he was. Sure, he had taken the explosion pretty much on his own. But, no. No, Billy was anti-hero. That's all he was. He liked to make trouble. He didn't like to do evil things, just stir up a mess. And look where it got him.

Penny waited, hearing Moist's warbling question. They couldn't bring themselves to say it. Was he dead? Was he alive? They couldn't finish the sentence. They just couldn't. She had only been with Billy a short while. A month and a half really, roughly, kind of. Yeah, that sounds about right, a month and a half. Had it only been that short? She couldn't tell; it had to have been longer than that… only a month and a half to fall in love with someone? Because that's what it was.

She had seen Billy before, had even bumped into him now and again at the Laundromat. But, never talked to him. He seemed shy, scared, a bit jumpy. Paranoid, even. She never talked to him. Not that she didn't care, but there was just no reason too. So when he leaned on a washer and told her outright that he loved her hair, if she wanted to get something to eat… they had spent the whole day together. The whole day. It wasn't until the evening breeze picked up that Penny was aware of the time. Billy had mumbled something about getting back before his roommate called out the search team, eyes on the floor, shy smile for her. She gave the smile back, giving him a hug.

"We should do this again."

His eyes were so bright when she pulled away. The blond man was just so happy that she wanted to see him again, so happy that she had hugged him. Something so simple had made someone so full of joy. And it filled her with a warmth that she had never known before.

"I'd love too. You free tomorrow?"

"Sure, I have this thing most of the day but late afternoon I'm free. Caring Hands petition."

"Awesome, I have errands to do in the morning, afternoon sounds great. Pick you up at the shelter?"

"Perfect." And with that, Billy gave her a huge grin and skipped away. Yes, he had skipped. She had made someone so completely happy, just by eating with them, just by talking with them. Did he… did he have a crush on her?

So when he started with the word "date" and gave her a small peck on the cheek, why did she blush so heavily? Did she have a crush on him? Must have… because a week later they were a couple. Penny had introduced Billy to her "boss" at the shelter as "This is my boyfriend, Billy. Billy buddy, this is Josh." Boyfriend. Boyfriend. She had fallen so completely for the shy smile, the bright sky-colored eyes, soft-spoken voice that called her name with so much love in it. She didn't have a crush on him, she was in love with him. And now he was going away. He was going to be taken from her. Just like everything else.

"He'll be okay. He's out of surgery, for the moment. We have to stabilize him for a while before we work on him again; make sure we covered everything, a couple skin-grafts to keep him from bleeding out too much more. But he should pull through."

Penny felt the smile pull at her face before she was even aware of the words that were spoken. Billy would live. Moist sat down very hard in the chair again, letting out the unsteady breath he hadn't known he had been holding. His boss would be okay, his villain would be alright, his friend was going to live. This had been one too many close calls for the poor sodden man. When Billy got out of the hospital, they were going to have a long, and serious, talk.