STEP NINE: Make her feel special.
Make Penny feel special. He frowned. She was special, didn't she know that already? How could he possibly make her feel special, if he hadn't already? He chose her over Raj, he sang her soft kitty, when she wasn't even ILL, he had taken her for dinner, and helped her with her laundry. He didn't do those things for other people, she must know that.
He usually made people buy HIM dinner.
The internet suggested flowers, roses, but Penny liked bright things, like her Penny Blossoms. Daisies?
They usually were white, but had seen some that were blue once. They had been fed blue food colouring or something, sort of like he'd done with his fish...
He paused. Raised his eyebrows. She did like bright things. Glow in the dark daisies? They did have an impressive shelf life, almost as good as those austro things. He checked his watch. He would need to begin immediately.
He kept them in his room. He'd bought the freshest ones he could find, and feeding them strong doses, he needed the effect to take place while the flowers were still fresh. On the second day, he shut off his lights, and waited. They glowed faintly in the darkness.
It would have to do, he decided. He could continue to dose them at her house, to strengthen the results, it would be easy enough.
He gathered the vase, and went across the hall, entering her apartment with his spare key. He could hear her in the shower, she'd just gotten home from work, the late shift. Turning off lights as he went, he placed the vase on the table and sat on the couch to wait, flicking on the tv so she would know someone was there, he did not wish to scare her after all.
The water turned off.
"Hello?" She called out.
"Good evening Penny." He called back. "Dr. Who is on." He smiled to himself.
There was a scuffling noise in her room, and she came through the door hastily dressed in shorts and a t-shirt, rubbing her hair with a towel. "No it's not, it's only airs on..." She looked around. "The lights are off?"
He clicked off the tv, and waited, watching the daisies.
"What the..." Penny's mouth dropped open. "There are... Those are... But.."
"Daisies." He smiled. "I made them glow in the dark. They will require more dosing for the effect to get stronger, but..."
"You got me flowers? And you made them glow in the dark?" She was staring down at them in awe, barely touching them with the tip of a finger. "You can do that?"
He stood up. "Don't you like them?"
"I love them." She whispered. "They're gorgeous! I don't understand.. Nobody has ever made my flowers glow in the dark for me before."
"I may have to write a paper on it." He agreed. "I was thinking of trying out carnations next week."
"Not roses?" She asked, she sounded like she was teasing, but her voice was different.
He stared at her. "You don't like roses, why would I do roses?"
The next thing he knew, her arms were around his neck and he was being hugged tight enough that he was beginning to doubt his ability to breath. "Thank you." She was whispering in his ear.
He let himself hug her back, he was getting better at it.