The party is opulence on display, glittering displays of riches most people would never achieve. Even Tony at his most ridiculous would find every bit of this gaudy. Some part of Penny hopes Tony sees everything and laughs.
There are long tables full of expensive catered food laid out. Waiters in black and white drift around serving drinks or taking away empty glasses. An ice sculpture of Oscorp's logo sits on one table in particular under some colorful lights.
Ice statues feel a little dated even by Norman's standards, but Penny supposes she did encourage him a little too well to go over the top. Music overpowers some of the conversations happening around her. The rich and powerful all mingle eagerly. Seating areas have been shuffled around so people can sit together drinking and talking amongst themselves.
Penny hides an amused smile behind a champagne glass as her gaze drifts over the ice sculpture again. She drinks a few more sips before passing it off to a waiter with a gentle, "Thank you." The waiter smiles back at her, a brief appreciative flash before he disappears back into the crowd as well. She isn't sure why the champagne isn't sitting right, but it doesn't matter. She needs to be sober for this.
Her heels click against the hardwood floor as she drifts through the crowd. She ignores a few curious eyes roaming over her. She's an unknown in what is a tightly knit circle of the rich and elite. If Norman wasn't already distracted, she's sure he would've stopped the party to introduce his trophy wife. He's talking with someone from another tech company at the moment.
She comes to a stop near the buffet, pretending to consider the food as she adjusts the bottom of her dress as subtly as she can manage. The black skirt has a slit that cuts too high, just on the edge of overly risque. Norman had picked it out specifically to flip it up after the party when they were alone. He told her as much with a smirk. The top of the dress isn't any better, black fabric flowers dotted with rhinestones are woven into a clear mesh fabric leading up to a circular flowery neckline. The mesh only covers her front, leaving her entire back exposed in a low dip. There is very little left to the imagination. Her makeup matches the dress, Norman had hired someone specifically to ensure that. The entire look is awful and Penny is ready to leap out of a window. It is just another horrible thing added to the pile.
She drifts down the buffet, but steps out of the way as someone else approaches to contemplate a meal themselves. Penny does her best to subtly make her way towards the main elevator leading out of the penthouse. Penny sticks to blind corners, trying to look busy when security occasionally passes by her. She doesn't want to alarm Norman, so she lingers between groups without ever speaking up before moving closer to the elevator. She could make a break for it if things don't work out the way she wants them to. That is her Plan B.
Every guest has to come through the elevator. Another cluster of the rich and famous emerge, laughing amongst themselves. Penny can guess most of them pre-gamed the night. Even with her abilities inhibited, she can pick up the stench of expensive alcohol on some of them as they pass by her. Penny stays nearby, just watching the elevator. All she can do is hope.
She waits. She waits.
She waits.
Finally the elevator opens again, Penny tries to not openly stare, but it's hard. Another group of party goers emerge from the elevator, walking in a loose group as they talk.
Penny picks out Happy and Rhodey within the mix. Neither look very happy. Penny can only guess Tony is downstairs still. The two move out of the group, standing off to the side to talk in hushed tones. She picks out Tony's name being said a few times.
Happy blows out a frustrated noise, stalking off first. Rhodey laughs dryly staying by the elevator. Penny's heart skips a few beats as she takes the chance to walk forward. The protective barrier between her and everything else starts to crack at the sight of people so familiar. This is home, these people are home.
Happy sees her first, his expression goes from sour to confused, horrified and surprised all at once. She smiles weakly back at him, not hesitating to make her way over to him. "Hey, Happy." She answers, biting down at her bottom lip. "Can we please go home?"
"Penny-" Happy breathes out quietly in amazement. He looks at her outfit, grimacing as he shrugs out of his suit jacket. He recovers quickly, immediately back to business as always. This is comforting as it is refreshing in a way Penny can't even articulate. "Of course, christ, yes, lets go." He slides the jacket over her shoulders. He protectively drapes an arm over her shoulder, guiding her away from the remainder of the party.
Penny just leans into him heavily, the protective facade she's been wearing this entire time starting to crumble. She can't let go just yet, but she wants to cling to the familiarity of someone she knew and cared about. Rhodey looks up warily when they approach before recognition dawns on him, his expression settling on shock after.
"Penny." He reaches out to join Happy in huddling protectively over her, touching her face with his hands, tipping her face up to look at his own. "Honey, you- how are you here?" He clearly wants to ask her more questions, but is restraining himself.
"He- Norman, he bought me." She whispers to him, half afraid to say it any louder. She doesn't want Norman to just appear. It would be her luck for him to intervene, to drag her away from some sense of safety. "Made me marry him."
Happy all but bristles, his expression pinching into something enraged. "Son of a bitch..." He barely keeps his voice down as he looks around the room. Rhodey's is a quiet kind of rage, something that could explode outwards if pushed. Colonel Rhodes wasn't as close to her as Tony or Happy, but he still cared. He was still part of her extended family.
"Tony is going to kill Norman here and now." Rhodey growls, "If I don't do it first anyway." The two herd her towards the elevator. Rhodey hits the call button firmly, trying to stay close to Penny and Happy. Penny wraps her arms around herself under Happy's oversized blazer draped over her shoulders.
The elevator dings open after a moment or two, revealing an annoyed Tony. He starts to walk forward out of the elevator. "God, were you two just waiting here this entire time-?" He asks before Happy pushes him back into the elevator, he stumbles a little with an indignant noise.
"Hey-" Then, then he sees Penny. His entire expression drops, the pomp aloofness turning into a panicky kind of shock. "Underoos-" His breath shakes as he reaches out to hold her against him. "Oh, spiderling..." Penny wraps her arms around Tony desperately, burying her face against his
shoulder.
"Hold onto that thought, Tones." Rhodey advises as the elevator doors start to slide shut. "Enemy territory here." He is stiff and at attention even as the doors close and the elevator starts heading back down.
"...This sounds like I'm going to have to gut Norman Osborn. That's what this is starting to sound like." Tony starts warily, still holding Penny against him. "I have the nano tech on me, I could do it." Penny gives a weak laugh at that, squeezing her eyes shut for the moment. Tony's cologne is almost overpowering as is familiar. Pepper probably complained about him stinking of it before he left the house.
"Penny first, boss." Happy states firmly back as he takes a few steps forward to bodily block Penny and Tony from sight. "We need to get out of here and fast." He looks over his shoulder back at Tony. "Keys?"
"Right, keys." Tony only loosens his hold on Penny to fish keys out of his jacket pocket, passing them to Happy.
The rest of the elevator ride is quiet, but Penny doesn't mind, just clinging to Tony a little desperately. He kisses the top of her head gently, murmuring comforting words against her curls. "We got you, we got you Underoos. It's okay now."
She laughs weakly again, "Don't let go, please."
"Never, I won't let go." Tony promises, just rocking in place with Penny for the moment. He slows the motion to a complete stop once the elevator comes to a stop at the very bottom of the building, the parking garage.
The walk to the garage is a tense one. Tony keeps Penny tucked against him, glowering at everything as Happy walks in front of the group with Rhodey taking the flank. Other party goers drift by in loose groups laughing and talking amongst themselves. A few point out Tony, but Happy and Rhodey's glares deter any actual approach.
"I have never been so happy Norman cheaped out on valvets until right now." Tony breathes out as the Audi comes into sight. "Almost home free."
"Excuse me, Mr. Stark!" A man's voice echoes in the garbage as hurried footsteps approach them. He looks over his shoulder, realizing it's some of Norman's security detail. Tony winces outright at jinxing them. "Uh, whoops."
"God damn it, Tony." Rhodey hisses, shooting Tony a look as he turns to face the men hurrying over. Happy just sighs outright irritated, quickening his pace as he unlocks the car. "Penny, c'mere." Tony reluctantly nudges Penny over to Happy, who wraps an arm around her shoulder and keeps moving towards the car.
"All of you need to stop." The tallest of the security detail states as he realizes Happy is still headed to the car. "We need to know if you've seen Mrs. Osborn. It seems she's gone missing."
Tony goes very still at that, the pieces click together quickly as he looks to Rhodey. "Excuse me?" "We haven't." Rhodey drawls dryly back, crossing his arms over his chest. "We only made it up
for a second and decided not to go to the party."
"Still, we need to be thorough, which means you need to stop, sir, miss." He calls out at Happy.
Happy just looks at him, rolling his eyes. "No. This is Tony's daughter. She snuck into the party. I'm taking her home." The excuse comes easily enough, Morgan and Penny were prone to giving Tony trouble.
Penny nods weakly, trying to not look up. If anything, Norman's security knew what she looked like. "S-Sorry." She murmurs softly, hoping her voice isn't that familiar. At best they know her voice as being high pitched and syrupy.
"Little miss rule breaker here is in deep trouble." Tony says, picking up the lie, just barely able to keep himself from going feral from the way his voice gets a little higher. "She's underaged and thought she could sneak on in."
"Can we see her-"
Rhodey snorts indignantly, cutting them off. "She's fifteen, trust me, she's not who you're looking for." The two men share a look, knowing a fifteen year old getting into the party is a liability they don't want to deal with.
"We need to make sure..." One man continues before his coworker shakes his head, dropping his voice to speak. "C'mon, Bobby, let's not get involved in family drama. Sides, she's too young to be Mrs. Osborn. If Norman found out a kid got in, he'd kill us."
Happy opens the back door of the audi for Penny, keeping her mostly blocked from view as she scoots into the car. He closes the door quickly, moving to get into the driver's seat.
Penny huddles against the leather seats, trying to curl tightly into a ball as the car starts up. She can't hear the rest of the conversation, but she doesn't want to be seen. It doesn't take long for Tony and Rhodey to get into the car as well. Tony opens the door out of sight of the guards, sliding in next to Penny. Rhodey sits in the front, warily watching the security from where he's seated.
"Lets get the fuck out of here." Tony hisses, wrapping his arms around Penny protectively. "If we don't, I'm going to lose my mind."
"Yeah, good luck explaining this to Pepper or May, Tony. They're going to go ballistic." Rhodey states slowly as Happy pulls out of the parking spot. He drives right by the security detail questioning other people nearby.
Happy releases a huff, "Knowing those two, I'm sure Pepper and May will charge the damn building in suits." Penny giggles tiredly at that mental, before finally cracking and bursting into tears. All three men startle at the shift. Rhodey looks over his shoulder in open concern.
"Can we take bets on murder after we get out of here?" Tony questions as he rubs Penny's back soothingly. Penny just cries until she can't cry anymore.
She sinks into the familiar embrace, dozing off in pure exhaustion. --
"C'mon, sweetheart, time to wake up." Tony's voice is warm and comforting as Penny blinks a little blearily as she tries to regain a sense of where she is. The dark upholstery of the car is familiar and steadying.
She grimaces a little at how dry her throat feels. "Mr. Stark..?"
"Thats right." Tony squeezes her close, resting his chin atop her head. "You fell asleep, honey."
She licks the inside of her mouth, hating the lingering taste of champagne. She makes a face for a moment. "How long...?"
"Bout as long as it takes for New York traffic to clear up on a Saturday night." Tony shifts to kiss her forehead, "So, about a couple years give or take."
Penny giggles a little weakly, shifting to try and sit up. "Are we home?" Her mind flits back to the safety of her Aunt May's apartment.
"We're home." Tony affirms easily, "Rhodey and Happy went in first." He leans back as Penny finally gets her barings. He smiles down at her, expression soft. "Ready to head in?"
"Mhmm." She rubs at her eyes a little. Her tiredness is starting to fade as she realizes she's actually home. She's home and it's not a dream. Excitement makes her tear up just a little again.
"Get ready to be lovingly mauled by your Aunt." Tony warns easily enough, he reaches out to open the passenger side door. He slides out of the car with ease, looking around. "The fact she isn't already out here means she doesn't know just yet."
Penny is happy to follow Tony out of the car, stumbling somewhat on her heels. "Ow-" Tony winces at the sight, reaching out to steady Penny. "Okay, honey, feel free to kick those ugly things off. I'd rather you not break an ankle."
"If I do that, I'm probably gonna flash you, Mr. Stark." She answers with an awkward grimace, motioning at the slit in her dress.
Tony opens and closes his mouth, "Reasons to kill Norman Osborn grow more steadily by the minute." He muses with a grimace. "Sit down on the seat, alright?" Tony slides his blazer jacket off, dropping it on Penny's lap once she's seated again. The heels come off with only some struggle.
Tony chucks the high heels roughly aside, not caring just where they've landed. "There, the squirrels can make use of those knock offs."
Penny giggles a little, smiling back at Tony. She rises once Tony turns away, gingerly handing him his blazer. He just folds it over his arm as he hustles Penny towards the front entrance of the apartment building. He keeps a protective arm around her shoulders as they walk together towards the stairwell.
Penny looks around, just trying to take in everything she's missed. "God... it's all the same still." Relief colors her tone as she clings to Tony's arm.
"No big changes without your approval of course." Tony offers, trying to keep the mood relatively light as they continue upwards. "Though I wouldn't mind talking Aunt Hottie into letting me badger the landlord into fixing the elevator."
"You know May will never go for that." Penny breathes out with a weak kind of laugh. "Which is why, I'll buy the building. Pepper can't argue, it's a good investment." Penny releases a weak kind of laugh. "I'm pretty sure she could."
"You seem to forget Underoos, I can be very convincing." He winks playfully back at the twenty- two year old as he walks with her. It doesn't take too long before the two come to a stop in front of an apartment door. Penny's grip tightens on Tony as she stares at it.
Penny doesn't get the chance to open it, the door is thrown open by a frantic May Parker. "Penny!" Tears Penny didn't think she had spring to the surface as she stumbles forward. "M-may!"
"Oh, Penny- Penny-" The older woman all but launches herself forward to wrap her arms around the twenty-two year old. Penny wraps her arms around her aunt, burying her face against May's shoulder as another sob breaks out of her. Tony takes a step back to let May and Penny sway in place together.
Happy pokes his head out of the apartment, "May, lets... get her inside." He places a hand against May's back, which is enough to make the older woman nod a little jerkily as she draws back slightly.
"My baby, my Penny-" She breathes out wetly as she gingerly pulls Penny back into the apartment with her. Tony closes the door shut behind them. The apartment is everything Penny remembers. A few things were moved around slightly, but it was home.
May herds her towards the couch, and the two curl into each other to cry. Penny can't stop shaking as she clutches at her aunt. All she can do is cry.
--
Penny half expects to wake up in bed with Norman. She expects the heavy smell of his cologne and expensive whiskey. She expects his weight against her back and roaming hands.
Instead she wakes up in her own bed. The blankets pulled up to her chin and the low murmur of conversation taking place in the next room. Penny wants to cry, but she feels wrung out. Her room looks how it did before she left for college. The same posters are plastered on the walls, her Star Wars and Star Trek models are on the shelves, books she hadn't deemed worthy to come with her settled between models and action figures. May hadn't changed anything.
She should be happy, but all she feels is exhausted. A paranoid feeling creeps along her spine. What if she's dreaming? What if she's just finally lost her mind?
She drapes an arm over her face as she breathes out. She squeezes her eyes shut as she tries to just focus on her breathing.
In.
Out.
In.
Out.
In.
Out.
"Penny?"
She startles at the sound of her own name, smacking herself in the face in the process.
"Woah, woah-" Tony's hand gently catches her wrist, "Careful there, Underoos." Penny grimaces at being grabbed, going very still. Her hands shake at being held.
Tony pauses before letting go of her wrist entirely. "...Okay, that's not-" He starts to say before blowing out a breath. "Penny, I'm sorry I startled you, kiddo." His reaction just makes Penny angry at herself.
Its Mr. Stark, he wouldn't hurt her, he would never hurt her. Why was she acting like this?
"Its... okay Mr. Stark." She mumbles weakly back. Penny slowly sits up, keeping mostly under her blankets. "What did... you want?"
"To check on you for one." He says, drawing back a little from the bed to give her space. "We didn't- well, we didn't talk when you got back." Penny is torn between the urge to reach out towards him and the urge to shrink under the covers to completely disappear. With the careful distance she put between herself and her own feelings, everything feels raw and strange.
This isn't fair. This isn't fair.
"I was more busy crying." She agrees weakly back. She loosely wraps her arms around herself as she looks up at Tony. He looks older in a way she hadn't expected. With the relief of her rescue gone, she can pick out hints of grey at his temples, crows feet at the corner of his eyes, a tired edge to how he is standing.
Had she made that worse?
"With... what I think happened, you're allowed to cry as much as you want, kiddo." He offers quietly back. He wants to sit down, but is clearly too uncomfortable to commit. Penny tries not to be hurt by that.
"I'm tired of crying." She says weakly, "I'm tired of... this."
"I know, Penny." Tony is silent for a moment, running a hand through his hair. "But, you just- got off the hell rollercoaster, kid. It's... gonna keep hurting for a long time, but we're here for you."
The twenty-two year old nods letting her gaze drop back to her blankets. Everything she could say just feels fake. Everything she was is just boiled down to nothing.
"Is Penny awake?" May calls from the hallway. Her aunt's presence eases some of the young woman's anxiety.
"She's up, but not att'em yet." Tony jokes weakly back as he turns his attention back to the doorway. He steps aside as May walks into the room.
May opens her arms, "Can I...?"
"Please." Penny breathes out weakly. The twenty-two year old just clings desperately to May, not sure what else she can do. May pets her hair back, kissing her brow gently. Tony hangs back, but doesn't leave. Penny wants to reach out to him, but discomfort keeps her from trying.
"If I can get a little closer, can I look at what's on your wrist, Spiderling?" The question makes Penny blink before glancing back at Tony. May sits back, but doesn't leave her niece's side.
"Y-yeah." She agrees readily, presenting her wrist. "It's... an inhibitor of some kind." The man approaches, making his motions very obvious and slow for Penny's benefit. His fingertips are warm against her hand as he probes the inhibitor.
"Thanks to you, I know just how to break these things." He says with a comforting smile and quirk
of his brow. "We got those emails you know. All that information means we can do something for any other rings out there."
For the first time in a year, happiness bubbles up in her chest as Penny breathes out a shaky laugh. "R-really?"
"Really." Tony confirms as he spins some nano tech into a screwdriver with a motion with his free hand. He brings it down to start working on the cuff. "Platypus and I were able to free those other women in Romanian. Because of you. Now we can do more for anyone else involved. You and Karen left a big trail, kiddo."
"Did... did anything happen to the gang, the Nefaria?"
"We're working on it. It is a little outside of Avenger level stuff, but, given it involves mutants, and Spider-Woman got involved, I've been pushing it to be our problem to handle." Tony confirms easily as he works, his gaze focused on the golden cuff.
"You're a hero, honey." May confirms softly, stroking her fingers through Penny's hair. "You did so much for those girls."
Penny weakly laughs, "I didn't do much of anything. I got kidnapped for fucks sake!" She covers her face with her free hand. Old anger rises to the surface. Anger at herself she had to bury to stay functional. "I'm supposed to be better than that."
Tony snorts a little noisily at that, "Kid. I'm the local damsel in distress, and I can say you get a pass." Penny opens her mouth to argue, before Tony starts making disagreeing noises back without even looking at her.
May laughs softly, just squeezing Penny close. "Just, let us take care of you." Penny sniffles a little, "I'll... try." It's all she can do, try.
The cuff finally comes undone with a click that feels louder than it actually is. Something that held her back for so long is now gone. "Here we are." Tony says easily as he pulls it away. The nano tech creeps back along his arm, forming a gauntlet over his hand.
Penny runs her fingers along the newly exposed skin. "I..." "You're safe." May promises readily as she holds Penny close.
Tony is quick to add as he breaks the cuff cleanly in half. "We won't let anything happen to you." He breaks the cuff into more pieces before throwing it into the trashcan in the corner of her own room.
Penny wants to believe. She wants to believe that so badly. But all she feels is at loss.
May and Tony talk gently about therapy, about a doctor's visit to be sure she's safe. Penny just nods as she loses focus in the moment.
--
Penny hates how disconnected she feels.
She thought when she was home, when she was safe she would feel like herself again. She thought,
she hoped everything would fall back into place. Instead she just loses time. Mornings blur into evenings between blinks. Days smudge together into meaningless sludge. Penny isn't sure if this is normal, or if she's just going to continually lose time, feel distant from reality. She feels like sometimes someone else is wearing her skin. May will mention something she said, and Penny won't remember it.
She's lost three months to this continual blur. Her days are almost always the same.
Breakfast, therapy, talking with May or Tony, brief walks outside, lunch, talking with MJ, therapy, and dinner. Only occasionally did she leave her apartment with May to visit Tony, Pepper and Morgan. Even then, she's just as disconnected.
Even then, no one treats her like herself.
Everyone walks around her carefully like she's going to break at the slightest pressure. May makes a point to make every step loud and obvious. Every calls out to her as they enter a room.
Penny wants to scream at them. She wants to remind them she isn't a child. She didn't suffer as much as the other girls had. She won't break if they don't announce themselves at every turn. Morgan avoids her.
She couldn't break any worse than she already is broken. She's been torn to pieces and there isn't anything left of who she was. Without a mask to wear, a role to play she's left wondering what to do. What do they want? Do they need her to be happy? Do they want something specific?
Adjusting has only been made worse by the fact her abilities have been slowly trickling back to her. Not all at once, not in a normal way. It's just another part of her that is broken beyond repair. Something she used to take pride in now hurts her.
One day her senses are amplified to the point where she can only lay in bed, covering her head with pillows. Every light, every sound, every smell, every taste makes her head pound. Then she's fine like it never happened.
The next day, she's sticking to everything. Every part of her sticks to the floor, the walls, any object she encounters and she can't control it. Then she's fine like it never happened.
The day after that her strength feels uncontrollable as she breaks something else by touching it or grabbing onto it too hard. The bruises she leaves on May's arm just makes her break down into tears. She nearly broke her aunt's arm. She nearly-
Penny huddles in her room, just wishing she had disappeared into nothing. She escaped, she went home, but she doesn't fit anymore.
Tony and May keep telling her recovery isn't linear. Recovery is a process, a long process that needs time to unfold.
Recovery doesn't happen in a day.
Penny wishes it did. Penny wishes she could just pull herself together. --
At night she dreams of a dark figure, a woman.
The same dream always happens. There is rarely much difference.
A woman so much taller than she is. Sometimes Penny can catch up to the woman, sometimes she can't. The dreams are always disorienting.
The dreams always end when the woman looks at her. Penny doesn't know what to make of the dreams. What to even say about them. They are just another thing wrong with her. Something else to recount to the therapist Tony found for her.
Just this once, she runs fast enough and she catches the woman in her dreams, she calls out to her in a voice that isn't even her own. A voice of every other woman, every girl she knew in captivity.
The woman turns to face her. Penny can't make out anything about her face. It is just as dark, just as obscured as everything else about her. She is a shadow, the surface of rippling water, something strange and powerful. Penny feels frightened and comforted by her in equal measure.
ʎuuǝԀ
Penny stumbles to a stop, just staring at the woman. It takes a moment for her to find her own
voice. "You... you know me?" ̇ǝɯ ǝsoɥɔ no ̇ǝɯ pǝʌɐs no
Penny shakes her head, a wet kind of laugh rippling out of her. "I- I don't even know you." She takes a few more steps forward, trying to close the distance between them. There is a frantic need to know under her skin.
̇ɹǝɥʇǝƃo ̇ǝɟɐs ǝɹ,ǝʍ ǝɹns ǝʞɐɯ ll,I 'ʎuuǝԀ
Tears sting at the corner of her eyes as she reaches out towards the other woman. "Who... what are
you saying?"
̇doʇs ʇɹnɥ ǝɥʇ ǝʞɐɯ ll,I
The other woman extends a hand. They tangle their fingers together.
"Can you... make it stop?" She whispers back. The other woman only lets go of Penny's hand to cup her cheek. A thumb moves across her cheek, her jaw.
̇ʎɐʞo s,ʇI
̇ʎɐʞo ǝq ll,ǝM
Penny breathes out a shaky kind of laugh as she clutches at the other woman's wrist, "Please."
̇sʎɐʍl ̇ǝɥʇǝƃo ̇ʎɐʞo ǝq ll,ǝM
The woman wraps her arms around the twenty two year old. They melt together. A miasma of something.
Of Someone.
--
"You still with me, Penny?" May's voice is soft, coaxing.
Penny shakily nods her head, her attention sliding back into the moment as she looks away from her own reflection back at May lingering in her bedroom doorway. "Y-yeah." She answers weakly back.
"Are you still hungry? I have breakfast ready." May's smile is pinched in the corner.
Penny places the hairbrush clutched in her grasp on the vanity as she turns away from the mirror to actually face May. "Yeah, I'm hungry." She says flatly back, too tired to fake the appropriate emotion.
May's smile becomes more pinched, but she doesn't say anything for the moment as she motions for Penny to follow her.
"I made waffles, well, I toasted some waffles." May says, trying to fill the silence hanging between them. "Along with some hash browns and sausages."
"Oh, that sounds nice." Penny answers simply back as she trails after her aunt down the hallway. Her gaze slides across the walls, skimming over the familiar family photos on display. She doesn't feel much of anything when she sees them. Even seeing them before used to make her feel warm and content. "Thank you, May."
"Anything for you, honey." May slows as she walks into the kitchen, weaving around the kitchen island where their meal is laid out. The familiar cat shaped syrup bottle sits in the middle between the two plates.
"Are we doing anything today?" Penny questions, trying to pretend she can hold a conversation.
"Therapy at 11:30. Then Tony wanted to talk with you about a project he's working on." May says easily enough as she pulls a stool out to sit down. Penny mimics the motion, taking her old spot. She picks up a fork, running her fingers along the peeling pattern on the handle.
"Oh, that's good." Penny states blandly back, poking at the hashbrowns.
May picks up the syrup bottle, uncapping it and pouring a liberal amount of syrup on her own waffles. "It's all over my head, but I'm sure it's something you could solve in two seconds."
"Maybe." Penny raises her fork to her mouth, chewing at the hashbrowns absently. Then the sickly sweet smell of the syrup hits her all at once. She leans back, as nausea twists her stomach into knots.
Penny shoves herself back, gagging openly as she stumbles off of the stool. The more she breathes in, the worse the smell gets. Her whole body can't stand the smell.
"Penny!?"
The twenty-two year old darts off in the direction of the bathroom. She clips the doorway on her way into the bathroom. She collapses onto her knees as she scrambles to flip the toilet lid up.
The acidic burn makes her throat hurt, makes her body clench up on itself. Her teeth and tongue are coated with the awful taste of bile.
Penny loses what she's eaten the past day or so, dry heaving when she finally runs out of food. May's hand is steadying against her back. Penny chokes a little, breathing unevenly as she squeezes her eyes shut. The smell of her own vomit just makes her dry heaving worse.
May rubs slow soothing circles against her back, not speaking as Penny finally slows her vomiting. She coughs weakly, just letting her eyes slide shut for a moment as she listens to the sounds of the city outside of the apartment. As she listens to May's breathing.
The silence is only broken by a question Penny didn't want to answer. "Penny... Did, honey, did you and Norman, ever...?"
The twenty-two year old looks up at her aunt, her eyes widening in horror. She tries to say something, but the words all catch in the back of her throat. May's expression twists into something horrified and aching all at once.
"Oh... Oh, honey." May shifts to wrap her arms around her niece. "I... Can run to the drug store and grab a test..."
Penny chokes again, tears burning at her eyes. "No- I-" She wants to deny it. She wants to refute the idea.
But, she and Norman were never safe. She never even thought about it. She had been so focused on getting home.
A home she didn't even fit into anymore.
"I can't be..." She says brokenly back. "I can't."
"It would be a good idea to just check." May soothes softly back, kissing the top of Penny's head once she's risen to stand. "Let me, get you back to bed, alright?"
The twenty-two year old doesn't fight May as her aunt helps her stand and leads her back to her bedroom. Penny just sinks into the bed, staring at her hands.
"Do you want me to stay with you-?"
Penny shakes her head, "No, no- I'm fine. Just... we'll get this over with." She forces a smile, pulling on a mask as quickly as she can for her aunt.
May frowns, just a little doubtful. "...Are you sure?"
"I'm not doing great, but- I just want this over." She says firmly back. May lingers in the doorway, not thrilled. The older woman is clearly debating with herself for a moment before sighing. She makes a choice finally. "I'll make the trip quick, okay?"
Penny nods. She keeps the mask on until she hears the apartment's front door shut. The twenty-two year old slumps into herself, shaking as she tries to come to terms with the possibility of being pregnant.
̇noʎ ɟo ǝɹɐɔ ǝʞɐʇ ǝɯ ʇǝ ¿ʎuuǝ Her breath shakes, "Please."
̇ǝsᴉɯoɹd I
̇ʎɐʞo ǝq oʇ ƃuᴉoƃ s,ʇI