Damn, the last few days were hard. Had two weeks vacation and spent the first week getting some well deserved rest in an RV at the lake. But the second week was filled with helping my parents with their hopefully last move into a new apartment. One day before he hauled the heavy stuff, we got the long expected call from the nursing home that my grandmother had died.

We were waiting for it for months but still, it was hard, especially after seeing the body for the last time.

Chapter begins where the previous one left off.

Enjoy :)

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters that appeared in the show.


Penny entered the apartment proper and found a man, who Leonard had called Sheldon, and a woman sitting on the couch, Major having his feet on Sheldon's legs and his head in front of the man's face, occasionally licking over his nose or mouth, which Sheldon rewarded with attempts to turn away.

"Leonard, would you be so kind to take this monster away from me?" Sheldon almost screeched in fear.

"Come on, he likes you." Leonard grinned as Tyson licked Sheldon over the face again.

"Have you any idea the number of pathogens a dog's tongue can carry?" Sheldon became even more agitated.

"Not to mention that he uses it to lick his own ass." the woman added while standing up from the couch.

"Oh, this is a nightmare!" Sheldon yelled and finally pushed the dog off of him before running to the back of the apartment, presumable the bathroom.

"Hey, I'm Amy, by the way." the woman introduced herself. "Sheldon's girlfriend."

"Penny." Penny smiled and shook her hand.

"Since when does Sheldon have a girlfriend?" Leonard wondered as he shook the woman's hand. "I'm Leonard, by the way."

"I'm Amy. We met through a dating app." Amy smiled happily. "So you're Leonard, I've heard so much about you."

"Have you?" Leonard squinted her eyes at her. "And since when does Sheldon use a dating app?"

"It's a long story." Amy said as Sheldon returned, his face scrubbed with soap.

"Begone, demon!" Sheldon shied away from Major who tried to jump up at Sheldon again.

"Heel boy, leave him alone." Leonard laughed and Major turned away from him with a huff, joining Tyson in sniffing around Amy to see who that new person was.

"Wow, they are beautiful creatures." Amy gushed and knelt down to pet the dogs and Leonard used her distraction to push Sheldon against the kitchen island.

"Leonard, what are you doing?" Sheldon gasped when Leonard pushed two fingers against his side, causing Sheldon a bit of pain.

"Didn't I tell you about the secrecy of my business?" Leonard hissed. "How much did you tell her about me and what I do?"

"Nothing concrete about you." Sheldon was adamant of his innocence. "Only some general stuff but she figured it out on her own."

"I did, yes." Amy said as she joined them. "Please don't hurt my boyfriend."

"How did you figure it out?" Leonard asked, turning a hard stare at her, one that often made bad guys flinch.

"From what he and the others told me about you." Amy told him. "I'm a double major in neuroscience and psychology so I was able to deduce what you do. And don't worry, I won't tell anyone."

"Fine." Leonard sighed.

"I KNEW IT!" a high-pitched yell startled them all, Penny turning around to see a diminutive blond with breasts bigger than her own enter the apartment, followed by two more men, one looking even smaller than Leonard, not to mention scrawny, the other of what appeared to be Indian descent.

"Leonard!" the Indian yelled and ran to Leonard, hugging him hard.

The other two came on slower but hugged Leonard all the same and Penny felt a pang of jealousy when the small blond hugged him way too long for her liking. She felt a little left out when the dogs began to wag their tails to greet the newcomers and they started chatting like they were just having a family meeting.

"Before I forget." Leonard said loudly and pointed to her to join them. "This is Penny."

"Hey, I'm Rajesh Ramajan Koothrapali." the Indian introduced himself. "You may call me Raj. As you can see and hear from my accent, I'm very mysterious, which is sexy, yes?"

"Are you drunk?" Penny asked, smelling a hint of alcohol on the man's breath.

"No." Raj shook his head.

"He has selective mutism." Amy told her. "He can't talk to women who aren't part of his family when sober but we learned that when he drinks even a small amount of alcohol, he suddenly can talk to them."

"And she's also my girlfriend." Leonard pointed out.

"Aw, why is everyone but me getting hot girlfriends?" Raj whined and Penny felt both sorry for him and irritated at his behavior.

"Maybe you should see a real shrink about it." the other man said before turning to Penny. "Hello there, I'm Howard."

"I heard your name before, you made the FBI ID for me." Penny said, shaking his hand.

"I did, yes." he smiled and pointed to the small blond. "This is Bernadette, my lovely fiance."

"Fiance?" Leonard asked surprised. "When did that happen?"

"Three months ago." Bernadette giggled and showed the ring, a small but beautiful diamond surrounded by half a dozen even smaller rubies.

"Whoa, that's a gorgeous piece." Penny gasped, holding Bernadette's hand up to look closer.

"Congratulations, buddy." Leonard clapped Howard on his back. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because you were busy being someone else to bring down a billionaire fraudster." Howard pointed out.

"Right." Leonard chuckled.

"Leonard, as much as I enjoy seeing you again, I get the feeling you didn't come here just to introduce us to your girlfriend." Sheldon threw in.

"True." Leonard nodded. "I want you to train her."

"Yeah, right, a woman assassin." Sheldon scoffed.

"When did he learn sarcasm?" Leonard asked his friends.

"Amy's teaching him." Raj said.

"Are you saying I couldn't do the job?" Penny asked menacingly.

"How would you kill bad guys?" Sheldon looked at her. "Talk them to death? Show your lady parts to make them die from high blood pressure if they feel lust?"

"Now I see what you mean." Penny looked at Leonard, remembering him saying that he'd be insulting to her.

"Do you even have the prerequisites?" Sheldon wanted to know. "Leonard, did you train her for combat?"

"No, my dad did." Leonard told him. "And she passed."

"Oh, I see." Sheldon couldn't pretend not to be impressed. "But Leonard, I'm way too busy with my work these days to have time to educate her."

"We could help." Raj offered.

"I'll compensate you for your time, of course." Leonard said to Sheldon.

"Leonard, what use would I have for money, I have..." Sheldon began but then stopped and stared at the object that Leonard had produced and was holding in his hand. "Is that a mint condition All American Comics number sixteen?"

"Maybe." Leonard hummed.

"What's so special about this comic book?" Penny asked.

"It's the origin story of Green Lantern." Howard replied. "There are maybe thirty to fifty copies of this one left in the world."

"Very well, I'll teach her." Sheldon nodded, taking the sealed comic book. "But I have one condition."

"Name it." Leonard said but Sheldon only handed him a stack of papers.

"No." Leonard finally said after skimming it, shaking his head. "No, Sheldon, don't make me do this."

"It's my condition." Sheldon insisted. "Either that or no deal."

"Come on Sheldon, you know how I feel about this." Leonard almost whined.

"I know, but I don't want anyone else do this and if you want me to educate her, you have to do it." Sheldon kept insisting, though Penny had no idea what this was about.

"Sheldon, how would I quickly find...?"

"You can use the fourth floor." Sheldon interrupted and gave him a smug expression that Penny thought might have been a smile.

"Fine." Leonard finally sighed, his shoulders sagging in defeat. "I got to make a few calls."

"Can anyone explain what just happened?" Penny asked around after Leonard had left for the hallway between apartments to make his calls.

"Something good." Sheldon almost sing-songed as he reverently carried the sealed comic book into his bedroom.

"Don't ask us." Howard shrugged when Penny looked at the others, the same look of confusion on their faces.

"Well, I made all the arrangements." a returning Leonard proclaimed, his dogs wagging their tails upon their master's reappearance. "Sheldon, when will you start?"

"Tomorrow." Sheldon stated. "Tonight, we're going to play."

"Fine." Leonard chuckled.

"Play?" Penny asked but she got her answer when she saw Sheldon opening up a cabinet, revealing what looked like dozens of board game boxes. "So, what am I supposed to do until then?"

"First, we're going to get settled in." Leonard said to Sheldon. "Did you have dinner yet?"

"No, we haven't ordered." Amy shook her head.

"Does he still follow his eating schedule religiously like he did before?" Leonard asked around.

"Yep." the assembled group nodded in unison.

"Thai food it is." Leonard shrugged. "Come on, Penny."

"Where are we going?" she asked, taking her luggage when Leonard pointed to it.

"Downstairs." he replied cryptically again and walked down the stairs to the floor below, where he opened the door.

"What the...?" Penny looked around, seeing the very same furniture in the same position, albeit without any board game boxes in it.

The kitchen looked the same and even had dishes and cutlery, the only thing missing really being the food and drink. She walked into the back and looked into the rooms, finding both furnished with beds and closets, the latter containing bed sheets. The rooms appeared aired, indicating that someone was opening the windows regularly but Penny had no way of knowing if it was a former tenant, a maid or this Sheldon guy himself.

"Two bedrooms?" she asked. "Who lived here?"

"Me and Sheldon when I lived and worked here." he told her as he put his bag next to the bed. "This was my room, the other one was Sheldon's."

"And now he lives upstairs?"

"Yeah, after I moved out to do what I do now, he bought the building, added the security doors and more or less kicked out the other tenants." Leonard told her. "I mean, he didn't make them homeless, he helped them find new apartments in the same price range."

"So, if he can afford buying an apartment block for himself, why didn't he just buy a house?" she wondered. "You have no neighbors there as well."

"But then, he wouldn't have Raj and Howard living in the same building." he chuckled. "Sheldon wants privacy, he hates neighbors, especially upstairs but he also doesn't want to be alone. He wants to have his friends close so he can ask them for favors if he needs them."

"And he expects the others to agree?"

"Given that he's their landlord, they usually do." he shrugged.

"It's still a weird thing." she pointed out.

"Yep." he agreed and got some sheets and pillows out of the closet. "You wanna take your own room or sleep here too?"

"I'll sleep here with you." she smiled. "I wanna enjoy this night before you leave tomorrow."

"Yeah, about that." he laughed. "I'm staying here while you learn."

"What?" she gasped.

"That was Sheldon's condition for him training you." he explained. "In exchange, I have to stay in Pasadena, return to my old job at CalTech and design experiments for Sheldon's hypotheses during that time."

"Huh." she hummed.

"What?" he looked at her.

"Well, you were objecting kinda hard to it." she shrugged. "I might be viewing this wrong but I can't help but think that you might not want to stay with me for more than a few weeks."

"No, you are the only reason I accepted it." he shook his head. "If you and I weren't in the relationship we're in, I'd have refused and found another teacher for the theoretical things."

"So, why didn't you do that regardless?"

"Because, and don't tell Sheldon I said this, there's really nobody better to teach anyone." he shrugged this time. "He may be coming over as a condescending jerk more often than not, but his eidetic memory makes sure that he doesn't forget anything to teach you."

"So, why were you so against staying here?"

"Because, as I told you before, the university job tends to become exceedingly boring." he sighed. "At least Siebert understood."

"Who?"

"The president of the university." he explained. "He used to be a colleague of mine before he left the business to become what's essentially a bureaucrat."

"Wait, so this guy was an assassin too?" she was surprised.

"Yep." he chuckled. "Quite a good one too."

"So, why did he leave?"

"Because of something that men often change everything about themselves for." he winked. "A woman. His now wife and mother of his children."

"Did they meet on a job too, like you and me?" she giggled.

"Actually, yes." Leonard nodded. "She's the daughter of his last target."

"You're kidding!" Penny gasped. "Did he kill her dad? Does she know that?"

"Yes and yes." he confirmed. "From what I heard through the grapevine, she placed the contract."

"What? She had her own father killed?" she still couldn't quite believe that.

"She probably did." he nodded again. "I know only rumors but apparently, her dad was a first class dirt bag. But before you ask, I have no idea what he did that deserved his death. I don't even know if it's completely true."

"Still, that gives me this falling in love with your kidnapper vibe." she shuddered.

She unpacked her bags as well, hanging her clothes up inside the closet and packing her delicates into the various drawers, not that she had that many clothes to pack away anyway. Tomorrow, she would have to go shopping for clothes before her first lesson but since she had brought a lot of money in cash, there wouldn't be any problem with that at least. Leonard was done a lot quicker, since he had only brought the clothes he had with him in Omaha, the rest of his wardrobe still in his home in Vermont. While she finished, he went to the bathroom and returned two minutes later.

"Is the bathroom stocked as well?" Penny asked. "I didn't pack any soap, only toothpaste."

"There is a bottle of liquid soap." he nodded. "And a bar of soap for your hands as well. A roll of toilet paper is there as well plus a few towels, though they may not be of the quality you want."

"I have to go clothes shopping tomorrow anyway, I can pick up a few towels." she offered. "Want me to buy some clothes for you too?"

"Nah, it's better if I get them myself, but thanks for the offer."

"If you say so." she accepted.

"We're going to have to do a grocery shop tomorrow anyway." he said. "We need food, drinks and most importantly, dog food."

"Right." she nodded. "Did you leave them upstairs to annoy Sheldon?"

"No, only because we're returning up there anyway for dinner." he told her. "The guys have most likely ordered food already and that way, they remember to order some raw meat for the boys as well."

"Do I get a key?" she asked as they walked towards the apartment door.

"Here." he said and handed her four keys. "One for the apartment, one for the front door, one for the mailbox and one for the security gate. The mailbox for this apartment is the one showing 4A."

"Got it." she nodded and attached the keys to her key ring. Just have to remember which one is which."

"I think after a day or two, you have that memorized." he chuckled and led her upstairs again, where his dogs excitedly greeted them as if they had been away for an entire day.

"Built your nest?" Howard asked with a grin. "I ordered some raw meat from the Thai place for your dogs, is that okay?"

"Yes, thank you." Leonard nodded. "I'll pay you back."

"Nonsense." Bernadette waved him off. "I still owe you for the money you gave me for the synthesizer."

"That was for Howard's services." Leonard pointed out.

"One FBI identity doesn't cost that much." Bernadette retorted.

"Leonard, don't argue with her." Howard counseled. "I have learned early that she always wins."

"Well, Bernie can't withhold sex from me." Leonard laughed.

"You just wait." Bernadette threatened. "Penny, in the interest of the sisterhood, can you withhold sex from Leonard for a few weeks?"

Um... no." Penny shook her head. "Sorry, it feels too good not to do it."

"Traitor." Bernadette moped. "Well, then I will have to go back to my usual forms of punishment."

"Remember me to never drink or eat anything she offers me." Leonard shuddered.

"Excuse me, is this how the entire evening is going to be?" an irritated Sheldon asked.

"You mean, an evening filled with banter and amusing conversation?" Howard rolled his eyes at him.

"Exactly." Sheldon nodded. "It's Monday and after we eat, we need to play while the womenfolk go have their eyes buttered."

"What is that supposed to even mean?" Penny asked confused, having never heard that.

"Isn't that what women do when they're together?" Sheldon looked at her, his face also showing confusion. "Putting butter on their eyes?"

"No, Sheldon, women don't do that." Amy told him. "Where did you hear that?"

"Raj told me he did it and that women do it to get out wrinkles when I walked in on him doing it." Sheldon replied.

"Raj, you put butter on your eyelids?" Bernadette asked the Indian, who tried to make himself small. "Why?"

"They do that in skin care." Raj defended himself. "There are products out there called eye butter, so why would I pay thirty bucks for a tube of that when I can get a block of butter for two bucks at the grocery store."

"Raj, I think you may have misunderstood the name of the product." Leonard told him, having looked it up on his phone. "The product is called eye butter but it's actually a moisturizer with sunflower seed oil and various other things, but what it doesn't contain is actual butter."

"And your parents are loaded, since when did you care about how much things cost?" Howard wanted to know.

"My dad threatened to cut my allowance when I bought my last batch of skin care products." Raj explained. "I didn't know before that whenever I pay something with my credit card, the bill goes to my dad."

"So, who did you think was paying your bills?" Penny asked him.

"I thought they made a mistake." Raj shrugged. "I wasn't keen on telling the credit card company about it."

"I guess that's the food." Howard said when the doorbell rang.

"Thank god." Raj jumped up and left the apartment while Howard spoke through the intercom to tell the delivery guy to wait a minute for them.

"Be right back." Howard chuckled and left the apartment.

"So, Bernadette, when's the wedding?" Penny asked.

"We haven't set a date yet." the small blond shrugged.

"Hey, do you all work at the university?" Penny wanted to know.

"Not me." Bernadette replied. "I work for a biotech company, it's a lot more money."

"So, Leonard told me that you mix poisons for him and other assassins, do you do that at work?"

"Hell no!" Bernadette shook her head. "If my bosses caught me doing that, they'd fire me and report me to the FBI. I have a lab downstairs."

"Isn't that dangerous?" Penny was doubtful. "What if the police comes along?"

"They'd need a warrant before we let them in and we have ways to hide the equipment before they came in." Bernadette explained. "After we've eaten, I can show you."

"Cool." Penny smiled as Howard and Raj returned, laden with bags filled with food boxes.

"I guess they smell it." Raj laughed as the two dogs became attentive, smelling the air.

"Alright, there you go." Howard said as he passed around the boxes. "How should I give the meat to the dogs?"

"Gimme." Leonard held out his hand for the two boxes, Howard handing them over. "Penny?"

"Got it." Penny nodded and gut up, receiving one of the boxes from Leonard.

Leonard gave her a bowl, taking a second and they put the meat from the boxes into those bowls. The dogs were sitting attentive next to kitchen island, watching their masters preparing their own food. When they were done, Penny and Leonard stood in front of the dogs, until they had lowered their ears, then put the bowls down, both canines darting for them to fill their stomachs.

"They are such beautiful creatures." Amy gushed about them. "And so well behaved."

"Yes, I had help from professional dog trainers when raising them and they taught me how to keep them in line." Leonard nodded. "Especially this particular breed."

"They are Malinois, right?" Amy still looked at them.

"Yes. A lot of people mistake them for lean German Shepherds." Leonard nodded. "But Shepherds are a completely different kind of breed, especially in temperament."

"As long as they are kept away from me, I'm fine." Sheldon threw in. "Vile beasts."

"Aw, is Sheldon scared of dogs?" Penny mocked.

"He is." Leonard nodded. "Also, cats, birds, hamsters and a multitude of insects."

"Cats think they own us, birds carry diseases, hamsters are the cousins of rats and a lot of insects can cause painful stings or diseases." Sheldon pointed out. "I used to have an ant farm."

"Until they crawled all over you and started biting you when you didn't close the farm properly." Howard chuckled.

"I fed them sugar water, I don't know why they bit me." Sheldon complained.

"They're ants, Sheldon." Amy sighed. "They don't have a concept of having a human master."

As they ate, Penny realized how much she had missed this kind of thing, being around a group of friends and talking to them. As they spoke, she kept quiet for most of the time since she had yet to get to know everyone but Leonard so she just listened, learning some small details about each member of the group. Sheldon's fear of practically everything, Amy's almost childlike gratefulness of being a member of the group, Bernadette's clear control over Howard and Raj's personality quirks that made him look pathetic sometimes.

"Now that were done eating, lets get to the fun part of the evening." Sheldon proclaimed and got up to go to the board game cabinet where he grabbed one.

"So, my place?" Bernadette asked.

"Sure. "Amy nodded, Penny getting up as well.

"How long will this gaming stuff go?" Penny asked.

"No idea." Howard shrugged. "This game can take hours."

"Since it's a work week, we'll be finished by ten at the latest." Raj said. "Sheldon as a strict bedtime."

"Getting a proper amount of sleep is a requirement for doing my work." Sheldon pointed out. "Now leave."

"Yeah, yeah." Bernadette waved him off and left the apartment.

Penny followed the other two women downstairs until they reached the second floor where Bernadette opened up the larger apartment. It was differently furnished than the other two she had seen already, this one looking warmer and cozier despite being the same size. As Amy and Penny sat down, Bernadette grabbed three glasses and two bottles of wine, handing them out and opening the bottles, filling the glasses before they all drank.

"So, Penny, spill." Bernadette giggled, the alcohol already going to her head.

"Spill what?" Penny asked.

"Don't play dumb, we want to know everything." Amy grinned. "Where do you come from, how did you and Leonard meet and how did you become his girlfriend."

"Leonard is famous in the business for being a loner like his dad, but given his past, that's not so strange, even though most of the other assassins don't know about his past." Bernadette stated. "So him getting a girlfriend is big news."

"Well..." Penny sighed, unsure if they would accept her given her own past but decided that honesty would be best. "I was born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska. When I was eighteen, I met a guy, fell in love and he promised the the world, so I went with him to Los Angeles to become an actress. But that went nowhere and to make money, he convinced me to become an escort. From there, it gradually went to me having sex with those men who hired me and suddenly, I found myself being a prostitute with that same man being my pimp without hope of escaping that life."

"That's horrible." Amy gasped.

"One day, Leonard hired me, he needed me to play his wife so he could use the honeymoon suite of a hotel." Penny told them. "Since he had to wait for several days to do his job, we got to know each other."

"I remember that job, I mixed the poison that Leonard used to kill that man." Bernadette smiled proudly. "Too bad Leonard wanted something that killed quickly and without being detected."

"Why too bad?" Penny asked.

"Because after Leonard told me why he he had to kill that man, I wanted to mix a poison that would kill him in the most painful way imaginable." Bernadette ground out through clenched teeth. "I even made that particular poison. I mixed a concoction that would have caused this man to experience pain as if every nerve ending was exposed while unable to move until he died of thirst."

"Jesus." Penny gasped. "Remind me never to get onto your bad side."

"But Leonard said no." Bernadette huffed. "He wanted this man to die and make it look like natural causes so I made him that. But I got a few shots in regardless."

"What?" Amy asked, hearing that for the first time as well. "How?"

"Well, my poison killed him with a heart attack. But the first thing it did was paralyze his facial muscles so he had this sincere face as if he had fallen asleep. Then the paralysis spread to his entire outer musculature, making him unable to move. Then he experienced horrible pain for several hours until his heart gave out. And all the coroner found was heart failure." Bernadette described.

"Um... yeah." Penny hesitated, trying to reconcile that petite woman with the character she had just described. "So, what about you guys? Where do you come from and how did you become friends with Leonard?"

"I was born and raised in Yorba Linda, my dad's a retired cop and my mom used to run an illegal day care center in our basement." Bernadette told her. "I went to college to study microbiology and worked as a waitress to pay for it where I met the guys one day."

"So, how did you start dating Howard?"

"Truth be told, and never tell Howard, I was interested in Leonard first." Bernadette revealed. "He had this air of mystery all around him, as if there was something in his life that he didn't show or hid under the veneer of a nerd scientist. Little did I know that this particular something was the ability to kill someone with a spoon."

"So, what made you help him by mixing him poisons?"

"Sheldon convinced Leonard to return to his old life to make the world a better place." Bernadette shrugged. "Since Leonard saved me from being raped by those robbers, I felt it my obligation to help him in the life we were essentially pushing him back into. I did find it sad when he left to live in Vermont."

"So, what about you?" Penny turned to Amy.

"Born and raised in Glendale, studied and got a doctorate in neurobiology and psychology and worked as a neurobiologist in Stanford. Moved to Pasadena as part of an exchange program and while here, I had a hit on my dating profile."

"What?" Penny was confused.

"Yeah, Howard and Raj added Sheldon's information to a dating site and its matching algorithm paired him up with Amy." Bernadette interjected. "They met and the rest, as we say, is history."

"Then I moved here permanently and began working at CalTech." Amy continued. "Sheldon already owned the building then and through the various conversations about Leonard, I started to understand who and what he was."

"So, Bernadette makes the poisons and Howard builds the gear, Sheldon teaches. What do you and Raj do?" Penny asked her.

"I am responsible to assess the mental strength of any possible candidate." Amy told her. "While Sheldon teaches, I watch how you react to his teachings especially when it comes to the more brutal aspects."

"And Raj?"

"Raj has volunteered to teach about the history of the business." Amy said. "Sheldon was okay with it because it lightened his load."

"Does Howard train me too for the gear?" Penny asked Bernadette.

"No, that only comes when you get it. You get a new piece of gear and he'll then show you how it works."

"Penny, have you ever killed a man?" Amy asked, suddenly serious.

"Um... no." Penny was more than just confused now. "I've not finished training yet and before, I haven't committed a capital crime."

"Do you think you will be able to?" Amy continued.

"Yeah, I do." Penny nodded, though the way Amy asked made her start to doubt herself. "Amy, what are you doing?"

"My job." Amy simply stated. "After Sheldon is through with you and you are let loose on the world, we need to be sure that you can actually do the dirty job that people will hire you for."

"Well, I did tell Leonard to kill my pimp when Leonard asked me if I wanted him to die." Penny pointed out.

"How did Leonard kill him?" Amy asked.

"Broke his neck." Penny remembered. "Like a twig."

"So when that piece of horse manure fell lifeless to the ground, what did you feel when seeing his corpse?" Amy looked directly at her, shocking Penny with the choice of words.

"I felt... relief, that my nightmare was finally over." Penny admitted. "But maybe even some sadness."

"Sadness about his death?" Bernadette wondered.

"Sadness that it had to come to that." Penny nodded, sure of it.

"Good." Amy smiled.

"What?" Penny turned to look at her.

"Just had to make sure that you didn't feel joy at having seen him die." Amy said.

"Leonard said the same thing." Penny remembered.

"Because it's important." Bernadette interjected. "Having fun killing people is never a good thing when your business is killing people because it leads to high body counts with leads to increased law enforcement attention."

"Leonard said that law enforcement knows about the existence of assassins." Penny wondered.

"The top echelons, yes." Amy nodded. "That doesn't mean they can tell their agents or cops to ignore twenty deaths when someone like Leonard were to go through a gang like a starving man through a buffet just to reach the leader."

"What if the contract is for the entire gang?" Penny asked.

"Then you have to kill them but in those cases, only the careless ones go there and shoot them all." Amy said.

"How would Leonard do it?"

"Leonard would most likely pick them off one by one, making it look like a gang war or via accidents." Bernadette shrugged. "If only to prevent retaliation shootings, which often kills innocents."

"To be fair though, there haven't been contracts out on gang members in years." Amy said. "Victims of gang violence rarely have the money to place a contract or even the knowledge on how to."

"To be fair, Leonard did take that contract for, what was it? Fifteen dollars?" Bernadette grinned.

"What?" Penny couldn't quite believe that.

"Ah yes, the dog case." Amy chuckled. "Some little girl had somehow found her way to the contract board and posted a contract on some neighbor of hers who had killed her dog. She used the money from her piggy bank, which was a bit over fifteen dollars."

"And Leonard took it?" Penny couldn't help but laugh.

"He even did it pro bono, he didn't take the money." Amy said. "The man had tortured and killed several dogs and cats and Leonard had used some specialized gear to punish the man. He didn't kill him though."

"Do I dare even ask?" Penny wondered. "Okay, how did he do it?"

"I mixed a poison that would both paralyze the man and slow down his heart rate, so he wouldn't quickly bleed out." Bernadette described. "Howie built him an artificial dog head, complete with fake teeth and even a saliva source. Leonard used the poison to keep him in place, then used the artificial dog head to bite off both of the man's hands, one of his feet and his penis."

"Jesus!" Penny cursed in shock, not quite able to imagine that Leonard could be so violent.

"Then he called an ambulance and disappeared." Bernadette finished. "Apparently they got to him quickly enough to save the man's life but now he lives without hands. Then he closed the contract and told the girl to keep the money."

"Leonard sure hates people who torture animals." Amy coincidentally gave Penny the explanation for Leonard's approach to that particular contract.

"And rapists, Leonard hates those too." Bernadette added with a faraway look. "You weren't there when he stopped those guys who laid their hands on me."

"You guys never told me what happened on that day." Amy pointed out.

"Because it's a hard memory." Bernadette shuddered. "I've never before witnessed brutality on that level and luckily never have since."

"Well, I know how Leonard deals with wannabe rapists." Penny nodded, the memory of seeing Leonard in action for the first time seared into her brain.

Penny took a big gulp of her wine, filling her glass again and drinking more. She wondered what exactly she would learn and if she knew everything, how it would change her view of both Leonard and the business she had been so adamant to get into.


Chapter ends here. Have to get to work soon.

Review please :)