Ugh, this took a while. Work is crazy these days, even with the lockdowns. And to top it off, lots and lots of snow have come down these past few days. Getting to work is already a chore.
Belial247: The sudden change would have made sense if Fanfiction wasn't screwing up the formatting all the time. The line I add to some chapters is a cutoff, denoting a change of scene and in some cases a time jump. Imagine a TV show and the screen turning black before it continues with another scene that's at a different place and time than the one before. And every time I upload a chapter, those dividing lines get taken out. I missed it when I edited the story in the FF editor. I fixed it after reading your review.
Enjoy :)
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters that appeared in the show.
Disclaimer2: Using terribleWaitress's characters for Penny's family again, because I'm used to them.
"Hey, why are you sitting out here?" Penny asked when she found Leonard and Albert sitting on the back porch, the din of the family receding once she closed the door.
"Taking a breather." Leonard told her.
"It's a little too much all at once." Albert added. "We're simply not used to socializing with a large group of people."
"Outside of a job." Leonard nodded.
"Have you ever had a social gathering?" she wanted to know.
"Not since our family was killed." Albert replied. "It's mostly due to the lack of people to associate with in a social way."
"Not a lot of friends in the business, I guess?"
"That would depend on how you define friend." Leonard shrugged. "True friends are those that show up when you call them on a Sunday to help you move. I don't think any of the people I know would be willing to do that, but that's mostly because we live in different parts of the country."
"What about this Howard you talked to a few times?"
"He is what I would call a friend to hang out with if the situation allowed it." Leonard nodded. "But those opportunities are few and far between since we usually only meet when I prepare for a job."
"Why is that?" she wondered, sitting down sideways on his lap.
"It's a matter of practicality." Albert said. "You can surround yourself with as many friends you like but since you can't really tell them anything about what you do for a living, it may be hard to socialize with them. Any time a question about jobs comes up, you're left with trying to keep your cover straight."
"So, Leonard's cover is systems security analyst." Penny mused. "What was yours?"
"Private investigator." Albert shrugged. "I was a retired CIA agent, so investigator was pretty believable."
"So, what would I have to choose?" she wondered.
"Whatever you're good at." Leonard told her, his hand rubbing slowly over her thigh. "I use systems security analyst because I'm well versed with computers, though not as much as Howard. I also could have chosen experimental physicist but with that, it would have been harder to explain why I was moving around the country so much."
"Are you that good at physics?" she grinned.
"Leonard, just how much did you tell her about yourself?" Albert laughed. "She doesn't seem to know anything about you."
"What do you mean?" Penny was confused.
"Leonard has a doctorate in experimental physics." Albert told her. "After we punished the people responsible for the death of our family, Leonard wanted to go back to his old life and went back to school. He finished college and grad school and got his doctorate when he was twenty-four."
"Then how exactly did you become an assassin?" Penny turned to her boyfriend.
"I... uh... well, the job was boring." Leonard sighed. "Having to beg for money in donations and fight for the allocation of university funds was tedious. Then one day, me and a couple of friends were walking home at night after a Dungeons and Dragons tournament and we were accosted by thugs. Of course, my friends were practically throwing their wallets at them but when one of them grabbed my friend's girlfriend, something in me snapped."
"What did you do?" she wanted to know, speaking quietly.
"I grabbed the guy's arm, broke it at the elbow and snapped his knee. I threw his knife into the throat of one of his friends and when the third guy raised his gun, I grabbed it from him and used the butt of it to crush his windpipe. And to cover my tracks, I broke the first guy's neck. Then I ran."
"What happened then?"
"Well, my friends were understandably shocked." Leonard continued. "Two days later, I sat them all down together and told them about my past and how and why I was able to do that. It was actually one of them who told me that I should put my talents to use to fight injustice."
"Really?" Penny smirked. "He said that?"
"They're nerds." Albert laughed. "You should see Leonard's comic book collection."
"Dad!" Leonard whined.
"Where is that collection?"
"In one of the rooms of my house you haven't been in yet." Leonard chuckled.
"Penny?" her mother's voice came out of the door.
"Yes?" she looked at her mother.
"Can you come in and bring them? The turkey is ready." Meryl said and her head disappeared.
"Well, lets go then to have Thanksgiving turkey at the end of December." Albert chuckled and got up, both Penny and Leonard following him up.
When they entered the house again, the table was set, filled with various items of food and the smell of it permeated the room. Wyatt came out of the kitchen, carrying the large turkey, the gently mocking sounds of awe from the family accompanying him when he placed it on the large table. He went to the head of the table and took his knifes, ready to carve but paused and looked to Albert.
"Would you like to do the honors?" Wyatt asked him, holding the knifes out grip first for Albert to take.
"I shouldn't." Albert shook his head.
"Come on, do it." Theo shouted, the others joining in.
"Fine." Albert sighed and got up, taking the knifes.
Albert began twirling the knifes between his fingers by reflex, the blades turning fast around his fingers and the room quickly went silent, the men, women and children looking in awe at the subconscious display of skill. Once Albert was ready, he began carving the meat, his skill even more apparent when he cut it expertly without ever touching bone. He placed pieces of meat on every plate, more for the men, less for the women and only a bit for the children and once he was finished, he sat back down and noticed the looks of the assembled people.
"What?" he asked. "Something on my face?"
"Um, where did you learn to wield a knife like that?"
"Um..." Albert hesitated, realizing what he had done. "Well, I learned it in the military. And some things you don't unlearn."
"I hear that." Wyatt nodded. "What unit were you in?"
"Forecon." Albert shrugged.
"Holy shit, really?" Wyatt gasped.
"Wyatt, Language." Louise scolded him. "What's forecon?"
"Force Reconnaissance." Wyatt explained. "It's the elite of the elite in the Marine Corps."
"Hey, I read about them." Theo spoke up. "They work behind enemy lines, right?"
"Yes, we do." Albert nodded. "But please understand that I can't tell you any stories."
"Makes sense." Theo shrugged. "Lets eat."
"Yeah." Louise agreed and the group began eating.
Albert took a deep breath, relieved that he had been able to explain his knife skills with somewhat of the truth. He really was in force recon during his military service but had been recruited by the CIA soon after where he had then learned to use knifes with great skill. His faux pas strengthened his resolve to not to a family gathering like this again or at least, try to learn to control his reflexive behavior.
"So Albert, how long were you in the military?" Nancy wanted to know.
"Until I was thirty-five." Albert replied, using his real retirement age from the CIA job.
"And what did you do since then for work?"
"I, uh... I was kind of a private investigator." Albert gave a half truth, since part of his job had consisted of investigating.
"Like Dick Tracy?" one of the Martins interjected. "That's cool."
"I'm surprised that a child these days even knows Dick Tracy." Albert chuckled.
"We watched the movie yesterday." Lisa said. "He liked it."
"Does he know the comic is from the nineteen-thirties?" Albert laughed.
"Really?" Martin gasped. "I thought it was newer."
"I didn't even know that." Lisa admitted. "Frankly, I never heard of Dick Tracy before I saw the movie."
"Well, my work wasn't like the movie. I didn't have two women swooning over me and I rarely had shootouts with bad people or was involved in conspiracies." Albert told Martin. "If you're a private investigator and you find a dead body, you have to call the police. You can't just decide to investigate the case yourself. You can ask the cops to tag along if it's part of your case."
"So, what kind of cases do you usually get?" Theo wanted to know.
"You have no idea how many parents want a background check on their daughter's new boyfriend." Albert chuckled. "Another large part of my cases was husbands or wives who thought their spouse was cheating on them and asked me to trail them."
"So, what about you, Leonard?" Nancy asked. "What do you do for a living?"
"I'm a systems security analyst." Leonard gave his cover.
"That sounds boring." Eleanor made a face. "What is that?"
"I get hired by companies all over the world to essentially check out their computer security systems." he described.
"That told me exactly nothing." Eleanor laughed.
"Well, the first thing I usually try before even touching any of their computers is hacking their network from the outside. That gives me a good overview about what I have to work on." he continued. "Then I evaluate their system architecture and give recommendations on how to fix it. Of course, sometimes it's impossible to really protect a system, especially when that system is dependent on outside connections, like banking."
"Uncle Leonard?" one of the kids called to him.
"Yes?" Leonard turned to the boy, both touched and a bit taken aback by the use of the word uncle.
"Can we give some food to the dogs?" the boy, one of the Martins asked, pointing to Tyson who was sitting close to the wall with Major, both watching the family eat.
"Yes, but only meat and small pieces." Leonard nodded. "And only if they are calm."
"What does that mean?" Aaron asked.
"Look." Leonard said and took two pieces of meat, whistling for the dogs to come over, both sitting down and looking expectantly at him. "Look at their ears. They're straight up, which shows excitement. Just because they're not jumping around and barking or squealing for the food doesn't mean they're calm."
"So when are they?" Kevin wondered as Leonard kept the pieces of meat between his fingers and looking at his dogs.
"Now." Leonard replied as the dogs lowered their ears without changing their sitting position, after which they finally got the meat they were promised.
"That's so cool." Nancy said. "I never knew this about dogs."
"Too many people don't." Leonard sighed. "People treat their dogs like their children and then wonder why they're not listening to them."
"We had a dog on our farm when I was a child." Nancy said. "She was never behaving bad, at least to my eyes but we never really took her anywhere but the farm."
"I'd ask you not to give them any bones." Leonard said. "Cooked bones can break and splinter and when dogs eat those, they have the danger of either asphyxiating because they get stuck in their throats or the pieces can cut the insides of their esophagus or gastrointestinal tract."
With the group accepting Leonard's explanation, they went back to eating, the children often throwing pieces of meat to the dogs who often caught them out of the air instead of letting them fall to the floor. Since the kids were done eating long before the adults, they went back to playing with the dogs, exiting the house to the backyard to throw balls again, with Josh volunteering to watch them.
Penny could see that both Leonard and Alfred were still a little apprehensive but they were a lot more relaxed than they were before they both went to the back terrace to get some air, seeing that her family wasn't a threat to them and nobody was going to come in to start shooting, at least she hoped.
Albert, her dad and uncles talked more about Albert's time in the military and from the way he spoke about it, she assumed that he truly used to be a soldier before being recruited into his later life. That and the earlier revelation that Leonard actually had a doctorate in physics made it clear to her that she still knew very little about her new boyfriend and the man she had lived with for the better part of a year, being trained by him.
After another hour, the family began getting up, the eating done. Meryl, Nancy and Louise began cleaning the table and bringing out smaller plates with the pies that also were part of the belated Thanksgiving dinner, the kids and Josh returning for them.
Each adult and kid got a slice and ate it slowly, due to the fact that each person's stomach was pretty fully at the moment. Penny had forgotten how those dinners went, not having experienced any during the past years and she already felt her insides bloating and pressing against her abdominal muscles. She wondered how much running she would have to do to get rid of those calories but that would be a worry for tomorrow.
The family went into the living room, the children running outside again with the dogs with Kevin and Tom acting as chaperons this time. Everyone else sat down on the couches, chairs and arm chairs around the fireplace, sipping drinks, the ones who had to drive later opting for non-alcoholic beverages.
Penny saw that Albert and Leonard sat down on chairs that were placed in a way that allowed them to see everyone. Her guess was that old habits died hard and she wondered if she too would develop those kinds of character quirks that made them who they are. She still couldn't see herself as sleeping only four hours per night and she never found out how much Albert slept. The only thing she knew from her time during training was that he went to bed after her and was always already awake when she got up.
When Penny sat down on Leonard's lap, she saw her sister grinning at her, causing her to roll her eyes. During the short times nobody was talking, they could hear the dogs barking outside and the kids squealing in joy. After roughly an hour, the door opened and the kids, chaperons and dogs came back in, the children taking off their shoes and jackets while the dogs rushed into the kitchen. Leonard pushed Penny off of him and joined them, taking two bowls from one of the cabinets and filling them with water before placing them on the floor so the dogs could drink.
"Good job, kids." Leonard smiled when he rejoined the families in the living room. "Now they have burned off enough energy for them to get a good nights sleep."
"Do dogs sleep all night?" little Barbara wanted to know.
"If they are really tired or old or ill, yes, they will." Leonard nodded. "But if not, they will walk around at night, even play if you have more than one dog and then return to the same spot they have lain down on before, so it sometimes seems to people that dogs sleep all night."
"Do your dogs wake you in the morning because they need to be walked?" Theo asked.
"No, I usually get up at four in the morning anyway, so they rarely wake me." Leonard chuckled.
"Jeez, why do you get up so early?" Nancy gasped. "If I wake up at four, the only think I do is turn around again to get some more sleep."
"It's how I am." Leonard shrugged. "I don't need that much sleep."
"You must have coffee going into your body intravenously." Louise joked.
"Actually, Leonard doesn't even drink coffee." Penny interjected. "He and Albert drink mostly tea and hot chocolate."
"So, you barely sleep and drink no coffee." Louise mused. "Well, that confirms it. You are an alien."
"I come in peace." Leonard mimicked the voice of ET.
"He comes in peace." Theo gasped. "Kill him!"
"Very funny, uncle Theo." Penny deadpanned. "He's my alien and I'll keep him."
"I think we should get going soon." Eleanor mentioned and pointed to her kids. "They look beat."
"Do we have to, mom?" Brian whined. "We wanna play with dogs again."
"We're coming back in two days, they will be here." Eleanor said and then turned to Leonard. "You'll be here then, right?"
"Yes." Leonard smiled.
Mollified by the confirmation, Brian and the other children reluctantly got up to put their jackets and shoes on again. Leonard whistled and the dogs trotted towards the door, where they sat down and watched the humans put on strange looking, colorful fur. When they were done, Brian and Barbara walked over to the dogs and hugged them and Penny thought it looked sweet how the dogs' heads rested on the children's shoulders.
"So, I need to ask, when you get up at four in the morning, do you eat breakfast that early?" Meryl asked once the others had gone.
"Not before six." Leonard shook his head. "I usually have a small snack, like a protein bar, then I do morning exercises and walk the dogs and then then I eat breakfast."
"And what kind of breakfast do you eat?" she continued. "When you were here last, you ate what we ate but do you have some things you always have?"
"The only thing that I eat for every breakfast is blueberries." Leonard shrugged. "Otherwise, I usually eat scrambled eggs with bison meat, waffles, bacon, or whatever strikes my fancy."
"Why bison meat?" Wyatt wondered with a smirk. "Too snobby for beef?"
"Dad!" Penny huffed.
"Yeah, I can't stand people who can't afford anything but beef." Leonard joked. "Jokes aside, bison is simply leaner than beef. A quarter less calories and less fat in it."
"Wait, was that what I ate when your dad made steak?" Penny asked. "I always thought it was regular beef."
"No, that was bison." Albert interjected. "And before we continue with this line of conversation, I should remind you that your other daughter's husband is not part of the circle that knows."
"Right." Penny realized, glad that Josh was currently in the bathroom. "Bridget, are you staying here or are going home too over Christmas?"
"We'll stay here until the twenty-fifth." Bridget told her. "Josh palmed the managerial duties off to one of his assistants over Christmas."
"The perks of being a boss." Wyatt chuckled.
An hour later, the family had dispersed. Wyatt, Albert and Meryl were sitting in the living room while Josh and Bridget had gone to bed. Leonard was sitting in the kitchen, nursing a cup of tea while Penny was cuddling with Tyson, rubbing his belly as the dog was lying on his side, two of his legs raised to give Penny easier access to the spot on his body he wanted to get rubbed.
"So, Albert." Wyatt spoke up, handing Albert a glass of scotch. "Why exactly did you agree to train my daughter to become a killer?"
"I didn't teach her to be a killer." Albert corrected. "I taught her how to fight and how to kill."
"Same thing." Wyatt interrupted.
"Is it?" Albert looked at him. "What do you think about the military?"
"Why does that matter?"
"The military teaches soldiers how to kill." Albert pointed out. "They don't teach them to go out into the streets and mow everyone down."
"I don't see the connection." Wyatt admitted.
"I taught Penny the tools on how to do something, it's on her how she uses it." Albert said. "A driving teacher doesn't teach a student on how to run over people, yet some people do that."
"Not quite the same thing."
"And as for my willingness to train her." Albert continued. "I did it because for one, Leonard vouched for her and two, I saw in her that she would not misuse her knowledge. She's a good person who wants to do good."
"I worry about her." Meryl stated. "I fear she will turn into a monster."
"Do you think I am a monster?" Albert asked her. "Or that Leonard is?"
"No, of course not." Meryl shook her head.
"Then trust in your daughter's character." Albert said. "Trust in mine and Leonard's judgment about her."
"It's hard to do." Wyatt sighed.
"I know." Albert nodded. "I had many misgivings when Leonard asked me to train him, yet I did it because I wanted to honor his wish of avenging his mother and siblings."
"I thought they died in a car crash." Mery wondered.
"They didn't." Albert said. "Lets just say that something I did when I worked for uncle Sam came back to haunt me and it cost me dearly."
"So, what happens now?" Meryl asked. "Will Penny soon kill someone?"
"No, not for another few months." Albert shook his head. "At the beginning of the new year, Leonard will take her to Pasadena for her theoretical training."
"What will she learn there?"
"She will learn the technical aspects and the history of our business and she will get psychological evaluations if she's capable of stomaching the violent side of what we do."
"And if she's not?" Meryl wanted to know, dreading the answer.
"She will not be killed, if that's what you fear." Albert calmed her. "Leonard has agreed to take responsibility for her but I doubt she will fail. If I didn't know she would pass it, I wouldn't have trained her."
"What do you think they're talking about in there?" Penny asked, rubbing Tyson's belly.
"Probably about us." he shrugged, sipping his tea and feeding small pieces of leftover meat to Major.
"You sure?"
"No, but what else do parents talk about when they met the first time."
"Point taken." Penny admitted.
"Hey, are stores open tomorrow?" he asked her.
"Yes, why?"
"If we're going to be here for two weeks, I need to get some dog food for these two." he pointed to the dogs. "I can't really feed them on leftover meat or baloney the entire time."
"Sure, we can go to a grocery store." she nodded.
"No, lets go to a real pet shop first." Leonard said. "They usually have the better stuff."
"Is there some special food these two need?"
"Yes, especially the dry food. I only buy the stuff that is high in protein, vitamins and omega fatty acids, which helps maintain the health of their joints." Leonard explained. "That is especially important for larger dogs."
"I know a pet store in town, we can go there tomorrow." Penny said.
"Guys, we're heading to bed." an appearing Wyatt interrupted them. "The animals won't take care of themselves in the morning."
"Can you show Albert to Scott's room?" Meryl asked.
"Sure thing, mom." Penny nodded. "Where is he?"
"He's watching the news." Meryl pointed to the living room. "They were showing that billionaire getting arrested again and pointed out that Leonard was in the shot, albeit barely recognizable due to his beard."
"Oh no." Leonard groaned. "What did he tell you?"
"That your jobs don't always involve killing someone." Meryl told him. "Which personally, I found reassuring."
"Okay." Leonard nodded. "Good night."
"Night, mom and dad." Penny waved and continued rubbing Tyson as her parents left. "Do you think I will get jobs that won't involve killing someone?"
"Well, as a freshman, or freshwoman, it's unlikely that you will get offered those." he shrugged. "Though your association with me and especially my dad will open some extra doors for you."
"It will?"
"Yes, but it will also cause jealousy among the other younger people, so you should be on your guard and not take insults personally that you might get." he explained.
"Good to know." she nodded.
And hour later, Penny stepped out of the shower and dried herself off. Albert had gone to bed as well after Penny showed him her brother's room and had given him some fresh sheets which he had quickly and skillfully applied to the mattress, pillow and covers. She had marveled at his ability to lay down and fall asleep pretty much right away, since she herself often lay around for sometimes an hour before falling asleep. She wondered if Leonard had trouble falling asleep but given that he went to bed at midnight and got up at four, she doubted it.
"Holy hell on a stick!" a voice suddenly startled her, causing her to scramble the towel to cover her front.
"Jeez, Bridget!" Penny cursed and relaxed. "Can't you knock?"
"Can't you lock the bathroom door?" her sister retorted. "But seriously, can you convince your boyfriend or his dad to train me as well?"
"What?" Penny looked at her sister, confused.
"I mean, not the killing part, but the rest." Bridget pointed at her ripped body. "You look fantastic."
"Thanks." Penny blushed a bit and removed the towel, having never had a problem being naked around her sister, especially since she got her the first bikini wax with melted crayons from her, which had turned out to be a bad idea.
"Damn, your ass looks as if you could crack a walnut between those cheeks and your stomach is like a real washboard." Bridget continued. "And you're not even flexing those muscles."
"What can I say." Penny shrugged. "My training consisted of lots of running and also workouts with weights combined with nutritious food."
"Is Leonard built the same?" Bridget wanted to know.
"Pretty much." she nodded. "You have seen him without a shirt, remember? When he stitched up his own wounds?"
"Ugh, mercifully, I had forgotten about that until today." Bridget shuddered. "I bet the sex between you two must go on for hours then, given your stamina."
"I'm not commenting on that." Penny rolled her eyes and pulled on her pajama bottoms. "Try to refrain from putting your ear against the wall to listen."
"Oh please, if I wanted to mess with you, I would do what you used to do when we were kids, come into your room when you're busy with him." Bridget scoffed. "Now, are you done? I need to use the toilet."
"Why don't you use the one in your en-suite?"
"Josh is on it and has been for fifteen minutes." her sister explained.
"Ah, too much turkey?" Penny giggled.
"Pretty much." Bridget confirmed. "He's like a shit camel, he can eat tremendous amounts of food without ever having to take a crap but once he has to, he's in the bathroom for a while."
"Ew, spare me the details." Penny made a face and put on her top. "All yours."
"Thanks." Bridget smiled as Penny turned to leave. "Good night."
"Night, Bridge." Penny smiled back and headed back to her room, where she found Leonard on the bed, his legs on it up to his hips with his upper body hanging freely above the floor and the two dogs sitting on his calves and feet. "What are you doing?"
"Back muscle training." he told her. "Just holding yourself up like this strengthens the muscles in your back."
"Really?" she was surprised. "Can I try?"
"Sure." he nodded and put his arms down before whistling so his dogs would get up from his legs. "Get on the bed the same way I was, hold yourself up with your arms and I'll put my weight on your legs."
"Okay." she nodded and did as he said.
"Now lift your arms, straight to your side." he instructed.
"Jesus!" Penny cursed when her upper body sunk to the floor. "This is impossible."
"As you have seen with me, it's really not." he chuckled. "It's really just repetition. The more often you do it, the better you get."
"How is this exercise different from the back training that your dad made me do?" she asked.
"This isn't designed to strengthen you in a way that you could lift more." he explained. "This is more about static strength, your ability to hold something, in this case, your upper body weight, suspended above the ground."
"I'll try again." she said. "Hold my legs."
"Okay." he confirmed and put his hands on her, making her gasp.
"Leonard, I said legs!" she chuckled.
"I know." he shrugged, his palms not leaving her ass while his weight still supported her legs.
"Leonard, don't light the match if you can't put out the fire." she jokingly warned him.
"I'll manage." he chuckled as he pulled her backwards onto the bed proper.
Well, their first day in Omaha done, the family has met them. Lets see how their next days go ^^
Review please :)
