She had been looking around fighting off the boringness of the drive when her eyes had landed on Derek's shoulder. She had let out a small gasp having forgotten that he had been shot.
"What's wrong?" Derek asked concern masking his features as he looked around to see if there were any cars coming them, relaxing a little bit when he saw there weren't any.
"You shoulder, I had forgotten. Are you alright?" She asked one hand reaching up gently landing on the wound.
"I sewed it shut after I got the bullet out. I'll be okay," He said with a cringe of pain when she touched the wound.
"I think we should stay in California for tonight, just in case your arm gets any worse." She said with a look of concern.
"Okay, but we can't go anywhere that someone will recognize me." He said deciding to let her have her way with this one because he knew she was right.
"I think I know a place." She said thinking about an abandoned library that she had frequented a lot as a teen to hack into the people across the street's internet.
"Okay," He said and so she told him where to and within ten to fifteen minutes they pulled up to the old library.
"Wow, it looks like no one's been here for years," Derek said looking at the abandoned building that seemed to be crumbling at the seams.
"That's because no one has been here for years." She said giving him a small smirk grabbing her computer bag out of the back and motioning of him to follow her.
He chuckled lightly glad to see that her mood had improved greatly and that she looked genuinely happy. As she walked through the big doors of the library, and he hurried up to follow her. He got inside and closed the door behind him. He smiled to himself when he saw that she was already setting up her laptops and hacking into the house beside them's internet. She stops typing however and frowns deeply pushing herself away from her laptop.
"What's wrong baby girl?" He asked gently resting his hands on her shoulders trying to get a look at her computer screen, to see what had unnerved her so much.
"S-Shane." Penelope stuttered out, while she had been hacking into the internet her signal was intercepted by a counter hack and it was none other than Shane.
"Who's Shane?" Derek asked feeling his blood boil because of how clear it was that whoever Shane was he had clearly hurt Penelope.
"He was my hacking mentor." That was the truth, but it most definitely not the full truth but it was better that way.
"I know better than that baby girl. Who was he really?" Derek asked pushing the subject not to make her uncomfortable, but knowing that talking about it would help her even if she didn't see it that way.
"You dated this guy didn't you?" He asked seeing that she couldn't find the words to explain what had happened.
She nodded and he saw tears threaten to leave her eyes and he sighed hating that she was in pain. "What happened?" He asked giving her shoulders a light squeeze letting her know that he was there for her.
"He was the first one to make me feel safe after my parents died. He used to record everything I did so it was like I would never die. He loved to fight though, that seemed to become all he wanted to do. I had to get away from him, I had to be myself." She said her voice thick with tears.
"Oh sweetheart," Derek said hating to hear how this guy had treated her in the end.
"It's okay, I guess it just brings up things I didn't want to ever think about again." She said with a sniffle.
"You think you're still the person you used to be?" He asked knowing what her answer would be.
She shook her head yes because while she felt she had changed, most of the time she was sure she was still the same. It terrified her because that was someone she had never wanted to become.
"I was so angry, at everyone especially myself. I was cold and didn't care about anyone else. I was terrible to everyone and I didn't care who got hurt, as long as someone did." She said with tears in her eyes.
"Oh, angel. You are the kindest person I have ever met and you have the biggest heart. You would never hurt anyone, not now not ever again. You care about people I can see it in everything you do, you were just hurting and that's okay. Becuase I can promise you the person I know now is not the girl you just described to me." Derek said taking a piece of hair that had been in front of her face and placing it behind her ear.
"You really think so?" She asked looking back up at him, blushing slightly when he put the piece of hair behind her ear.
"Baby girl, trust me I know so." He said with a smile before kissing her forehead and gently shutting the laptop.
"Let's find something to read." He said motioning towards all the old books that sat on the shelves around the room.
"I'd like that," she said getting off of the chair and smiling again.
"Here you go that way and I'll go this way." Derek motioned giving each of them a side of the library to look on.
While looking for a book, Penelope let her thoughts carry her away. She knew now that Derek was nothing like Shane and that he would never hurt her. It made her feel safe in a way she had never felt before. She had butterflies in her stomach, and she was starting to really like him in a way that was more than just friends. It made her so happy, but at the same time, she was terrified. The whole time her mind screamed, 'guys like him, don't fall for girls like you'
About twenty minutes later she yelled from the other side of the room, "I think I found something."
Derek smiled glad that she had, had some luck in finding a book because he had been looking for about twenty minutes and hadn't found anything. He walked to the middle of the library where he had seen an old couch. When he saw Penelope out of the corner of his eye with a book, that looked battered but would still be legible.
"It's a story my parents used to love to tell." She said sitting down on the couch and sitting and opening the book.
They sat there in the middle of the old abandoned library and read the love story that Penelope's parents had both loved.