A/N: Chapter fifteen is here. We finally are going to dive into Penny's past a bit more. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Nothing in here is mine, except for Andy, Jason, Miranda, Peter and the two new characters being introduced today.
Penny had lost count of the number of times her mom had hugged her these past few weeks. Not that she minded at all, but it made her feel guilty each time. She had really neglected her family over the years because she'd been selfish, stubbornly wanting to prove she could take care of herself and her son. And while she had certainly accomplished that, it had caused her family some pain as well.
So close to returning to Pasadena, the hugs only became more frequent, and Penny knew she would have to make her visiting her parents and siblings a regular thing. Of course she'd only seen Randall twice for a brief period, but maybe next year he'd be a free man again and she'd be able to hang out with her big brother.
Penny smiled when another pair of arms joined the hug. She didn't need to turn her head to know it was Brenda. She shifted slightly to wrap one arm around her big sister, and three of them held the hug for at least another minute, before they broke apart. "I missed this, you know?" Penny sighed. "I was just too stubborn to prove I didn't need anyone."
Brenda chuckled. "Let's face it, in this family we all can be a bit stubborn."
Penny nodded. "I guess so. Anyway, I promise it won't be another couple of years for me to spend a few weeks here." She frowned as her phone buzzed a third time in short succession. Retrieving the device, she quickly scanned the three messages she'd received, than began reading them in earnest. "Jesus," she said halfway through the first. Finally she looked up at her mom and sister. "Sorry, I've gotta make a phone call. A friend of Leonard and I had a big scare yesterday."
Not waiting for a response, Penny pushed the button to call Miranda back as she walked up the stairs to the room she shared with Leonard, calling out for him. A second later her call was picked-up. "Hi, sweetie," Penny said entering the bedroom. "I just read your messages. Are you okay?" Penny activated the speaker function as she sat down next to Leonard.
"Yeah, I'm okay."
To Penny, Miranda sounded anything but okay. "So, what happened, exactly?"
There was a three second pause. "The stalker grabbed me as I was entering the building. Before I even had a chance to scream, he'd gagged me and ushered me into the laundry room. He called me a slut for sleeping with someone other than him, and he was going to teach me to respect him."
Penny grabbed Leonard's hand in hers. She'd read the messages of course, but Leonard hadn't.
"He hit me a couple of times and then tore my top open." Miranda went quiet for a few seconds, obviously reliving the whole ordeal and needing a bit of time to deal with the emotions. "That's when Jason burst into the room. He started pounding the stalker and I had to plead with him to stop, before he'd kill my attacker."
Penny nodded, tears threatening to spill from her eyes. "In your last message you said you were staying with a friend?"
"Yeah. Jason was also apprehended, for use of excessive force."
"If you'd like, I could call the legal department at work, see if they can speed up the whole thing?"
"No, that's okay. We already have a good lawyer, someone we've known for a couple of years. But thanks for offering."
"Oh, sweetie, of course we'd offer our help," Penny answered. "I just wish we were in Pasadena when this happened."
Miranda actually chuckled a little. "Thanks, but I don't think you could've done much. Now, promise me you'll enjoy the rest of your vacation, okay? Leonard, you see to it that you two have fun these last couple of days."
"I will," Leonard responded. "But we'll come visit you as soon as we're back."
Leonard had finally started to feel comfortable around Penny's family. With the women out for a day of shopping and whatever kind of fun they had planned, it was just the men with the kids, who were playing a little bit aways from the three of them.
"Leonard, I want to thank you," Wyatt suddenly spoke.
"What for," he asked, pausing with the beer bottle near his mouth.
"For having my youngest daughter come visit us for a bit longer than a few days. I don't know how you did it but I'm glad. We're all glad."
Leonard turned to look at Wyatt, a slight frown on his face. "Actually, it's not something I did. It's something you did, or rather said, when you visited her last time."
Wyatt raised his eyebrows. "Oh?"
Leonard nodded. "Yeah, when you told me to never give up, even if she was all stubborn. She actually overheard you say that and it made her realize you didn't actually know her, how she'd changed."
Wyatt stared into the distance for a few second, then hummed. "She really has changed," he remarked, obviously only now realizing that was the case. He turned back to Leonard. "When you first met her, was she like she is now?"
Leonard nodded. "Yeah, pretty much. I was immediately drawn to her." He quickly turned his gaze to Wyatt, afraid he'd think Leonard was just looking for an attractive woman. "I mean... she was compassionate, and caring and... a lot of fun." His eyes widened a little more. "I mean, just hanging out... Not like she and I... I mean, she's obviously good looking and..." Leonard stopped talking when both men started to laugh.
Wyatt finally spoke again. "It's okay, Leonard. I get your point; it's not just physical." He shook his head. "Anyway, indirectly you're still responsible, considering I've never told anyone to never give up on her."
Leonard was silent, not sure how to respond, instead opting to just down the rest of his beer.
"I also want to thank you," Peter spoke up.
Leonard had found the man was usually quiet, simply listening and observing, only voicing his thoughts or opinions sporadically. He also was very nice to him, which had been a fear Leonard had harbored when he first saw him. Peter was definitely a jock, having played Lacrosse for most of high school, but in his demeanor he seemed much more like Leonard. "What for," Leonard asked, not sure what Peter would have to thank him for.
"For telling Bren she's worth something, that she's not stupid." Peter was quiet for a few seconds, then chuckled. "I don't know how you did it, 'cause I've tried to tell her the exact same thing for years, and it never seemed to make an impression." He was quiet for another couple of seconds. "Bren and I had really good, long talk the night you guys left, and she's going to look into following a course or two at the local community college." He suddenly looked at both Leonard and Wyatt. "Don't tell anyone, or she'll kill me. She doesn't want anyone to know, in case she failed."
Wyatt nodded and let out short laugh. "Yeah, our women can definitely be very scary and intimidating if you rub them the wrong way."
All three grinned, and Leonard finally realized he was accepted by Penny's immediate family. He could see himself visiting them every year, assuming Penny wouldn't break up with him.
Wyatt smacked his hand on his knee and stood up. "So, anyone for another beer?"
Penny kept staring at the most adorable pair of boots she'd ever seen, in her head going over her expenditures so far, trying the see if she could afford to buy them. It wasn't the worst thing to go a little over budget - she still had a nice buffer in her savings account - but she'd taught herself to always stay within the budget she'd set herself before going out. It'd helped her tremendously in the beginning, when she'd just started at the firm and had still been in a starting position, and she'd come to value the wisdom of predetermining a budget for anything.
But this was only a small amount over her vacation budget, not even fifty dollars over, and would hardly make a dent in her savings. And these were the most adorable pair of boots. She wouldn't go broke if she did buy them now, wouldn't have to struggle to pay her bills at the end of the month, or buy food for the rest of the month.
She could at least try them on, she decided and proceeded to do so. If they didn't look good on her, she wouldn't need to buy them, she reasoned. Of course they had to look amazing on her feet, Penny realized a short time later, looking at the reflection in the mirror. Slowly she took the boots off again, stepping into he flip flops she'd been wearing today. Holding the boots in her hands, looking at the price tag once more, she was almost at the point of buying them.
"Penny?"
Penny turned her head at the familiar voice, barely refraining from rolling her eyes when she saw who it was.
"Oh my god, it is you!"
Penny did her best to put on a happy expression for her old high school rival. "Melody, it's so good to see you!"
Melody came closer and gave a brief hug, for which Penny was thankful. Hopefully this bitch would leave again soon. "I saw you earlier, but wasn't quite sure if it was you. But here you are, Penny L..."
Penny's glare was apparently still good enough to silence anyone. It wasn't that she hated her last name, she just didn't like the fact her parents had thought it would be funny to name her Penny. She'd been teased about it a few times in school, though most had learned not to tease her too much.
"So, what have you been up to?"
Penny kept in the sigh that wanted to escape, as her hopes of this being a brief meeting evaporated. "Just work, taking care of my son, you know, the usual thing. You?"
"Oh, not much. I married a doctor, so I got to spend most of my days doing whatever I want."
Again, an eye roll nearly escaped. It hadn't exactly been a secret that Melody had wanted to marry someone making enough money so she wouldn't need to work.
"Which, I found out very quickly, is booo-ring A-F. So, I volunteer at the hospital, keeping the patients company, help the staff clean up. And I recently signed up for nurse training."
Penny was sure her eyebrows had vanished into her hair.
Melody smiled. "I know, right? So not what I had thought my life would be. But I actually like the way my life turned out. Sorry," she added as her phone rang.
Penny watched as the woman's smile grew wider as she looked at who the caller was. At that point, Penny realized that if the caller was Mel's husband, she really loved him, and hadn't just married him so 'she wouldn't have to work.'
"Hi honey," Melody answered her phone, confirming to Penny that it was her husband calling. "No, I couldn't find anything I wanted," Melody answered. "I don't buy every pair of shoes," she replied a few seconds later, the smile in her eyes and on her lips at odds with the tone of her voice. "Listen Chris, I just ran into Penny, who I've known since high school. Would you mind if I invited her to dinner tonight?"
Penny nodded in agreement, when Melody looked at her questioningly, figuring it wouldn't be so bad to visit with this woman, who'd apparently had changed as much as Penny had herself. "Can I bring my boyfriend?"
Melody nodded. "Yeah, with her boyfriend," Melody relayed to her husband. "Thanks, baby. I love you, too."
Leonard was becoming increasingly more nervous as they got closer to the house of Penny's old high-school classmate. He didn't think he'd ever enjoy just meeting new people, especially if those people had been popular or jocks. Then again, Penny had been popular and she turned out to be the nicest person in the entire world. The same was true for Jason; despite the imposing physique, the man was one of the nicest person's he'd ever met. Perhaps this Melody wasn't as bad as he was assuming.
Despite his attempt at ensuring himself, his nervousness peaked as Penny knocked on the door. This was it. Penny's friend would see who her classmate was dating, and would laugh, he just knew it. When he'd asked why Penny hadn't told her friend who she was dating, she'd simply shrugged and said, "it didn't come up." He now glanced at Penny as she took hold of his hand, effectively stopping him from fidgeting, which he knew he'd been doing just a second ago.
He turned back to face the door as it was being opened. His nerves didn't quite go away, even though the woman smiled pleasantly at him. She had short, dark hair, with deep blue eyes, Leonard noticed. Definitely not unattractive, though she couldn't hold a candle to Penny. Leonard could understand the two had been rivaling for popularity and boyfriends.
"Uhm, hi," Penny said. "I'm not sure I got the right address here?"
The woman's smile grew wider "If you're Penny, you got the right address. I'm guessing my wife forgot to mention some of the changes in her life?"
Penny giggled. "I guess it just didn't come up."
The woman gestured them inside. "Come in. Mel's getting ready, and dinner needs about ten more minutes, at least that's what she assured me."
"And have I ever been wrong?"
Leonard looked in the direction the voice had been coming from and saw what he now knew to be Penny old rival. Melody had long brownish hair, he saw and seemed slightly taller than both he and Penny.
"No, you haven't," Melody's wife replied, her tone clearly full of affection. "And," she added, looking at Penny and him. "She's never poisoned anyone." She smirked. "That I'm aware of."
Melody rolled her eyes. "Ignore her," she said, addressing Penny, then followed it by a hug. "I'm so glad you came. I wasn't quite sure if you really wanted to, considering high school."
Penny returned the hug with a smile. "I admit, when I first saw you this afternoon, I really hoped it would just be a short 'hi, hello, how are you' kinda thing. Then I realized you, like me, had changed, though I didn't quite know how much had changed."
"Oh!" Melody said. "I'm sorry, I didn't even think about that. I hope it's not a problem?"
"No! Of course not," Penny assured her. "I was just really surprised when a woman who wasn't you opened the door."
Both of them laughed, then Melody turned briefly to her wife. "Right, so, this is my wife Christine, Chris, this is Penny and her boyfriend..."
"Leonard," Penny filled in for her friend, while hugging Christine. "Nice to meet you."
Leonard was surprised to find himself enveloped in a hug by Melody. "Nice meeting you, Leonard."
The dinner Melody had prepared looked and smelled delicious. "This looks great, Mel," Penny remarked out loud. "But isn't this a bit too much for just the four of us?"
Melody nodded. "Yeah, it is. Whatever is left, we donate."
"Mel usually makes enough to feed a dozen people, just for that purpose," Christine, who preferred to be called Chris, added.
"Huh," Penny said, mentally changing the image she had of her old rival. "I remember you mentioning you volunteer at the hospital?"
"Yeah," Melody replied, looking slightly embarrassed, though Penny didn't quite understand why. "Gives me something to do."
Chris scoffed. "Don't let her fool you, she's been volunteering for nearly a decade now." She raised her hand to forestall the question Penny was going to ask. "Oh, I know about her teenage dreams of marrying a rich doctor so she wouldn't have to work, but she'd been volunteering even during high school."
Melody smiled and shook her head. "Well, there goes my cool image of becoming a house wife and arm candy for a wealthy doctor. Anyway, dig in."
Penny noticed Melody seemed to not want to talk about her volunteer work and how it deviated so much from her oft voiced ultimate life. She decided to let it rest, and just enjoy dinner and getting updated on various high school friends. Penny told them about her son Andy, proudly informing them he was off to college after summer vacation.
"Wow," Melody said, clearly impressed. "He must be very smart."
Penny nodded. "Yeah, he is, which is surprising given who his parents are."
"Did you know Daryl ended up in jail?"
Penny nodded again. "Yeah, I did, though I didn't really pay much attention to the news. He obviously didn't want anything to do with me or his son - which I'm actually grateful for, I'll admit - but if he didn't show any interest, I wasn't going to, either."
Melody nodded. "Yeah, the guy's an ass. I was actually glad to find out that stalking rapist finally got arrested."
Penny turned in shock to face Melody, fork full of food hovering in front of her. "What?"
"You really didn't know? Yeah, he's done some creepy bad stuff. Last I heard he was released, though, but he's wanted again because he never reported to his probation officer. They think he left the state."
Penny frowned. Could it be? It would be an awfully big coincidence, but given what had happened to Miranda, it was the first thing that came to mind.
"I know what you're thinking," Leonard said to her, "but how likely is it he came to Pasadena?"
Melody reached out a hand to Penny. "Is someone stalking you?"
Penny shook her head, but touched by the concern in her former rival's voice. "No, but a friend of ours, Miranda, is. Or was. Apparently he'd tried to rape her last night, but her boyfriend, who could easily double for the Incredible Hulk, kicked his ass."
"Well, at least that's good news," Christine added.
"Yeah, but Jason - that's Miranda's boyfriend - got arrested as well. Anyway," Penny added, "Miranda was adamant I was going to have fun these last few days of vacation, so could we change the subject, please?"
