Chapter 23
Penny was frozen in the doorway. 'The final alter is a …child?' It wasn't what she was expecting. 'Well, what were you expecting? A woman?' Penny chided herself mentally. Giving Johnny a small smile, she approached the two men. Kneeling, she put out her hand for him to shake.
"Hi Johnny. My name's Penny. It is very nice to meet you" Penny's smiled widened when Johnny's hand darted out to shake hers, before being hid back behind Leonard. Penny nodded towards the tower they were building, "That's a nice tower. Can I help?" Getting a tiny nod from Johnny, she sat down next to the LEGOS and started to pull out parts.
"Penny! You need to get the blue parts! The tower has to be blue, not red!" Johnny exclaimed in dismay.
"Oh really? Silly me" Penny smiled disarmingly. She had pulled out the wrong color to see if Johnny would talk to her. Winking at Leonard, who had sat down next to the two of them, she turned her full attention on Johnny. "So, Johnny. What do you like to do?"
"I like LEGOS, and dinosaurs, and robots, and paintball, and bugs, and climbing trees, and stuff." He continued on talking as he finished sorting through the blue pieces that Penny and Leonard were putting in front of him.
Penny had to stifle her laughter. His pattern of speech was way different from how Sheldon normally spoke. He spoke like he was about seven or eight years old. He is precocious and not really caring how he sounded. 'Why was he created? Sheldon's siblings don't seem like they would have excluded him but ...' Penny's thought process ground to a halt when the realization came to her. 'Sheldon didn't have a childhood. He was in high school before he was ten, graduated, and went to college at eleven. He didn't have time to be a real kid.'
"Leonard, I'm hungry. Can we get pizza for dinner?" Johnny asked, eyes looking bigger then Penny ever thought they could. She knew that there was no way that Leonard could say no to such eyes.
"You got it little man. Pepperoni, right?" Leonard asked, as he once again pulled himself up from the floor. "My phone is in my room, so I'll be right back." Johnny and Penny nodded as Leonard made his way to the back of the apartment. Johnny went back to playing with his LEGOS and Penny went back to watching him.
"Hey, Penny. Why are you trying to kill me?" Johnny asked without looking up from his LEGOS. Penny gaped. She didn't know how to answer such a demand. "Well? You've never even met me and now you want to get rid of me. Why?" Johnny's eyes finally turned to hers, accusing and harsh. Nothing like the sweet, doe eyes that he had given Leonard just minutes prior. 'Well, no reason to lie to him'
"I'm not trying to kill you, but I am trying to make Sheldon better. He's not well, you know that" Penny said as she turned to fully face him.
"It's always about Sheldon! Why doesn't anyone ever want to help me? No one ever plays with me, unless they are trying to help Sheldon. It's not fair!" Johnny was close to tears now, but he furiously scrubbed them away before they fell. Penny's heart ached for the little boy in Sheldon's body. Not thinking, she reached out and pulled him into a hug. Stiffening at first, Johnny eventually relaxed against Penny and just laid against her shoulder.
"Sweetheart, you are missing one very important thing: You are Sheldon. At least, you are a part of Sheldon." Penny squeezed Johnny as she tried to find the right words "Think of Sheldon as your brother. You want to help your brother don't you?" She got a small nod from Johnny. "Well, if you want to help Sheldon, then you need to be a part of him again."
"You are trying to kill me!" Johnny exclaimed as he tried to extract himself from Penny's embrace. Penny held tighter to stop him from escaping.
"No! I just want you both to be happy. You're not happy only coming out every few months, are you? If you and Sheldon assimilate, it'll be like you're out all the time. You'll be able to do whatever you want to do all the time."
"Really?"
"Well, within reason, of course."
Johnny chuckled at this before pulling away. "Penny, you're really nice. Lee was right about you when he said you just wanted to help." Sighing, he pulled his knees up to his chest and rested his head on them.
Penny moved to get up, but was stopped by Johnny's hand grasping her wrist. Looking down at his bent form, she saw his eyes staring back at her.
"Penny. If you really want to help Sheldon and I assimil-asimal-get together, you need to take him where he's always really really wanted to go. I really don't mind if..."
Smiling, Penny pulled at Johnny's hand, startling him into action. Penny grabbed her purse and started to walk backwards towards the door. "How about, right now, you and I do something you want to do? Wanna go grab Leonard and we can go to the LEGO store for something new to play with" gesturing to the box, Penny quirked an eyebrow at him "I think these have seen better days. How about a big castle or one of the new Star Wars sets?"
Johnny's eyes got huge at Penny's words, and a smile threatened to split his face. Scrambling for his shoes, he grabbed for Penny's hands. "That sounds great! Let's go Penny! Leonard! We're goin' to the LEGO store! Come on!"
Penny's laughter filled the hallway as Johnny pulled her down the stairs with Leonard racing after them.
After a day of the LEGO store, a make your own pizza place, do it yourself yogurt, and finishing with a few hours in the park for a carnival, the trio made their slowly up the stairs. Johnny was listing to the side, eyes drooping, and big yawn coming out of his mouth every other minute. Penny was holding Johnny's hand as he leaned closer to her. Leonard was holding the large teddy bear that Johnny won, almost struggling with it up the steep stairs.
'Well, this was fun.' She thought about the day's events. Johnny was ecstatic at the LEGO store, having Leonard purchase him a small Star Wars model. The trio decided to still get pizza at a place that makes it right in front of you. When they went to get frozen yogurt, Penny noticed a carnival going at the park across the street. The sugar high combined with Johnny's pleading gaze sealed the deal. They stayed there till Johnny had won the giant teddy bear.
Once in the apartment, Penny ordered Johnny to get ready for bed. He put a minor protest before stumbling his way back to the bathroom. After noting that he was brushing his teeth, Penny turned to Leonard. "What do we do with the stuff? The LEGOs and the bear?" She didn't want evidence of an alter, but she didn't want to get rid of Johnny's stuff that he got.
"Don't worry. I'll just put it in the extra closet with the rest of the alters' stuff. Whenever they get clothes, or accumulate crap they want to keep, I put it there to make it easier on everyone. That way Sheldon doesn't notice his bank account depleting and the alters have stuff to wear or do. Sheldon doesn't go in that closet cause I told him it was full of Babylon 5 memorabilia."
"That is so smart Leonard" Penny was pulled away from whatever she was going to say when she heard Johnny calling for her. "I'll be right back" she remarked as Penny made her way down the hallway. Once she made it to the Sheldon's room, now occupied by Johnny, she called out "I'm coming in." After a noise of affirmation, she opened the door.
Johnny was lying on Sheldon's bed; if it weren't for the haphazard way he was laying she would have thought him to be Sheldon. Penny sat on the edge of the bed and pet his hair. "What's up sweetie?"
"Penny, today was really fun. Thanks for taking me out." Johnny almost slurred against the pillow. "No one has ever taken me out when I'm here. They always keep me locked in the house." Sighing, he burrowed further into the pillows. "I'm really glad that Sheldon likes you soooooo much." Penny flushed with pleasure at that admission of Sheldon's feelings for her.
"Well sweetie. I really like him too" sweeping his hair out of his face, she pressed a small kiss to his forehead. "I really like you too hun. Goodnight sweetheart"
"Penny wait!" Johnny grabbed her sleeve. "I have something to tell you" He pulled her down close and whispered in Penny's ear. Eyes wide, she pulled back when he was done.
"Really?"
"Yeah. Weird, but it's what he wants." Johnny laid back down and closed his eyes. "Night Penny."
"Night" she murmured as she closed the door behind her. Making her way back to the living room, she noted that the bear and LEGOs were gone. Leonard was at his desk, typing away at his computer.
"How'd it go? He all tucked in?" Leonard asked
"Yeah. What're you doing tomorrow?" Monday would mean that there would be less people where she wanted to go.
"Ummm I don't know, why?" Leonard's face was adorably confused.
"You, me, Howard, Bernadette, and Raj are going on an adventure."
"Oookay,I guess I'll call in a sick day." Leonard's look trepidation was almost comical.
"Perfect! Here's the plan" So Penny and Leonard plotted late into the night.
The next morning, when Sheldon woke up, he noted that there was noise coming from his living room. Curious to why people were in the apartment at 6 am, he went to investigate.
He came into the living room to be greeted to the sight of all his friends gathered in the kitchen. Upon his entering, the chatter stopped.
"Sheldon! You need to get dressed if we're going to go get breakfast and still be where we're going on time" Penny pushed him back towards his room, without letting him ask questions. "No if, ands or buts mister! We need to hurry!" Throwing a glare over shoulder, he made his way back into his room without complaint.
Seeing Sheldon's door close, Penny raced back down the hall to finish the plans for the day. Once he made his way back into the living room, he was immediately herded downstairs into Penny's car. They stopped at a Sheldon approved place for breakfast. Sheldon's questions were met with silence, or instantly rebuffed by Penny. When they had finished with breakfast, Penny pulled Sheldon to her car and produced a scarf.
"I need you to put this on."
"Penny, if I put that on, how will I know if I need to brace for impact once the inevitability of crashing happens?"
"Sheldon. I need you to trust me" she placed her hand on his arm "Please." The please at the end was to be Sheldon's undoing.
Sighing, he put his hand for the scarf. Penny's smile brightened as she handed it over. Giving his cheek a peck, she made her way to the driver's seat. Once she saw the scarf was firmly in place, she made started the car and took off. Penny drove as safely as she could to their destination but she couldn't help herself from taking a few quick turns.
A little less than an hour later, she pulled into the parking space. "Ready?" she asked Sheldon.
"Can I take off this blindfold?"
"Nope!" She emphasized the p with a pop of her lips.
Frowning, Sheldon felt his way around for the door handle. "Well, as you are taking me to my inevitable disaster or to somewhere remarkable I cannot be sure Penny. However, you said for me to trust you. So I shall."
Sheldon couldn't see the smile that his words put on Penny's face. "Trust me. It's the latter. Get out and I'll direct."
Once out of the car, Penny grasped his hand in hers and started to tug him along. They met the others along the way to the destination. Once there, Penny got behind Sheldon to undo the scarf. "Are you ready?" His nod was his only answer as she pulled the scarf off his eyes. Blinking from the instant glare of sun, it took Sheldon a moment to note where he was.
Penny had brought him to Disneyland.
****Much love readers! Hope y'all like it! Love Love!***
