Ah, the good things always happen, right? Had back pain for a month, but nothing really too bothersome. Decided on my last day of work before my autumn vacation that I should order a lift belt for work. Then, on Sunday, I woke up and after getting up, I fell down because my back hurt like hell.

Herniated disc is a bitch :(

So, I apologize in advance if this chapter has some words that often repeat. The pain medication tends to make me a bit loopy. There was a sentence that had the word "usually" in it three times, and I only found that after a proof read.

Still, enjoy :)

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


"Looks good." the therapist said to Leonard. "Can you do a full rotation?"

"I can." Leonard nodded, straightening his arms and rotating his arm slowly.

"Any pain?"

"Not really, more like stiffness." Leonard shook his head.

"That's normal." Heyerdal nodded. "What have you been doing at home?"

"Regular training at the gym as per your instructions and one hour every day in an hyperbaric chamber." Leonard described.

"That's good." Heyerdal whistled. "Given your range of movement and lack of pain, I think we can now clear you. You should continue with light training and incrementally increase the weights. Unless there are some complications, you should be cleared for work. What is your job, by the way?"

"I'm an experimental physicist at CalTech." Leonard told him, which was true enough.

"Then you really can go back to work full time now." Heyerdal chuckled.

'If only you knew.' Leonard thought to himself. "Thanks, doc."

"Keep the sling for the time being." Heyerdal continued. "If you feel any discomfort after waking up, you might want to wear it to sleep until you build your muscles up again."

"Okay." Leonard accepted.

He got up and shook the man's hand before leaving the practice. After getting back into his car, he drove home and sighed in relief at being able to actually do it. He had felt a week before that everything was mostly fine but finished his physical therapy nonetheless but he would also not reverse all the gains by overdoing it in the gym. He would build his strength, and do light sparring with Penny to get his rusty martial arts back on track.

A while later, he arrived back at the apartment block and after leaving the car, he looked up at the building. Now that he was healthy again, he'd finally be able to return back to Vermont, see his dad again and enjoy the cooler temperatures and especially the green of his home. After finding the mailbox empty, he went through the security door and walked up the stairs. When he entered the apartment, he found Penny standing at the kitchen island, mixing a salad for their lunch.

"So?" she looked at him, seeing him carrying the sling bag in his hand.

"Cleared for normal life." Leonard smiled.

"Then why do you still have the sling?" she pointed to the object in his hand.

"In case I have any problems when sleeping." he shrugged, with both shoulders again. "Like you and your mask."

"True." she accepted. "You know what sucks?"

"What is that?"

"I will most likely have to wear this thing at night for the foreseeable future." she huffed, pointing at her face.

"The mask?" he asked and Penny nodded. "Why?"

"While the bruising is gone, I still feel pain when I put pressure on this side." she described. "I checked online and it said that full healing could take up to six months."

"So, you might want to avoid getting hit in the face." he chuckled.

"Well, I'm not in the habit of doing that anyway." she smirked. "However, when we spar, you might want to concentrate on my chest."

"I can do that without sparring." he winked.

"Horny pig." she poked out her tongue. "You know what I mean."

"I do." he laughed.

"Now that you're fixed, do we leave for Vermont now?" she asked.

"Yeah, though I'd like to finish the last set of experiments at the university." he replied. "I don't like leaving things unfinished."

"How long?"

"A week, maybe ten days." he said. "I'll have to tell Siebert that I'm leaving again."

"We can do that." she nodded. "I'll miss the weather here, though."

"I won't." he laughed. "I like it a bit colder. And our boys surely miss the opportunity to just run when they like."

"That's true." Penny accepted, running her hand over Tyson's head, the dog sitting at her side and feeling a warm feeling in her stomach when she realized that he had used the word 'our' and not 'my' when talking about the dogs.

After lunch, Penny took the dogs to the park while Leonard headed back to the university. She looked around and realized that she would miss this, at least a bit, talking to other dog owners while their pets played with one another. On the other hand, being in Vermont would mean that she wasn't going to run into old clients or former colleagues.

And now that Leonard wasn't encumbered by injury anymore, Penny was again the recipient of his full and unimpeded attention at night. Even though they still had to be careful about her own injury, they both ravaged each other, with Leonard being the dominant one in one night, Penny in another. On some days, when they were home, she just mounted him on the couch, simply because she could.

Over the next few days, they continued with their lives, both going to work at the university, Leonard to do his job and Penny to keep her cover and of course, taking care of the dogs. There were times when Penny could see their restlessness, their desire to just run but couldn't due to being cooped up in the apartment. She was just glad that their obedience still made them just walk and not to destructive zoomies through the apartment.

"I must say, it's great to be rich." she giggled. "And these are neat."

"Yeah." he nodded as he fired his own gun.

"Did Howard build these too?" she asked.

"No, they can be bought in various stored." he shook his head.

She grinned when Tyson came running back, dropping the ball into her waiting hand and looking expectantly at her. She loaded the ball into the gun and fired it, the round object flying in a high arc towards the screen. Tyson sped after it, his head up high to follow the trajectory and catching the ball before it could hit the ground. When he brought it back once more, she threw a piece of sausage at him, which he also caught before giving a short bark, as if telling her to throw. Leonard did the same thing for Major, shooting the ball far so Major could run after it.

"This was a great idea." she said. "I could have done with another movie though."

"Come on, this is a classic." Leonard argued.

Leonard had rented the entire Electric Dusk drive-in theater, one known for vintage movies, for the night and chosen the movie Journey to the center of the Earth from the late fifties. She knew there was a remake with Brendan Fraser but this one was the original with actors she had never seen before. She did like that the tall Icelandic guy only spoke Icelandic and that the female character translated instead of them all speaking the same language, which would have killed some of the immersion.

For this evening, Leonard had chosen a pickup truck from Howard's car park. When they arrived, she learned why when he turned it around and placed two lawn chairs on the back, with the tailboard down so the dogs could jump onto the flatbed if they wanted to.

"How much did this cost?" she asked.

"Not as much as you think." he chuckled. "The price is as if I buy all the tickets myself plus a little extra."

"So we could have sex if we want?" she grinned.

"For example." he nodded. "I'm pretty sure some people rented this thing or another theater for themselves so they could have sex in it."

"Others don't care." she added. "When I was a kid, my parents sometimes took me to the drive-in or I went with my sister. It wasn't surprising seeing one or several cars rocking."

"This is my first time in a drive-in." he shrugged.

"Never went as a teenager?" she was surprised.

"With whom?" he looked at her. "My family wasn't one for movie nights, I had few friends, being the nerd that I was even back then and when I finally had a girlfriend, she was killed along with my family in the shootout that caused me to become who I am today."

"I'm sorry." she said. "I didn't want to bring those memories up."

"It's okay." she smiled sadly and took her hand, which she squeezed. "It was a long time ago."

"Well, we could make the memory, if you catch my drift." she smiled seductively at him.

"We could, but we won't." he chuckled.

"Why not?" she almost felt insulted at being rejected.

"Because there's a guy back there operating the projector and we don't have the luxury of a hundred cars around us to hide what we'd be doing." he laughed. "Not to mention that we'd have to do it on here and not inside the car."

"That's true." she accepted. "Well, then lets just enjoy the movie and let the boys run."

"Lets." he nodded and fired off another ball.


They had lasted sixteen days.

Sixteen days, in which Connor had to suffer his erstwhile roommate walking around the room without a care in the world. After a shower before bed, Nancy usually entered the room wearing only a crop top and a slip or sometimes even just a thong, not caring how it would affect him. Or maybe she knew and just didn't care.

As for himself, he had never read as much as he had in those two weeks. Without much to do, he could do nothing else really except do some business he could via phone, which was rare enough. The only other thing he did was corresponding with Patrick through the email drafts, notifying him daily that Gunther hadn't contacted them yet.

On day seventeen, Connor had woken up and found Nancy bobbing on his dick. As soon as she had noticed that he was awake, she had ignored any of his one-word questions and simply mounted him, after which she proceeded to ride him harder than any other woman he had ever had sex with before. Once they were done, Nancy had simply gotten up and dressed as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Upon his questioning later, she had just told him that she was bored and horny.

Since that morning, they had done it multiple times a day, to combat the boredom they both felt. During the past almost three weeks, he had more sex than he normally had during three months and he felt as if he would be drained dry by the end of their sojourn here.

Most of the times it was her initiating and having sex with her had taught him several things. Connor was by no means inexperienced. His status allowed him to get beautiful women into bed and when he went to one of his clubs he used as a front to move drugs, he often ended up with one or sometimes even more than one girl in his bed.

But those were usually very young, barely out of their teens, just the way he liked it. He had no doubt that some of them were even underage and had lied their way into the club but he never really bothered to ask about the age of a girl he took home with him. But doing it with Nancy showed him how little he knew because of how little the girls knew. Whereas Nancy had the bonus of experience. This woman knew how to have sex.

With the girls, it was normally him that took the lead, even when he had them get on top. But Nancy didn't care what he wanted. When she wanted to be on top, she got on top. When she wanted him to take her from behind, she told him. She insulted him while doing it. Called him names. Even stopped riding him sometimes to just slap him before continuing even harder than before, telling him to not dare to climax.

And he did his utmost to follow that particular order. For a woman in her forties, she felt better than some of the twenty-somethings he had had sex with over the years. It was also the first time that a woman just grabbed him by his hair so she could shove his face between her legs. And for some reason, he couldn't bring himself to complain.

"Come on, do me harder!" Nancy shouted, while Connor held her hair and thrust into her from behind.

"If I go harder, we might break our hips." he grunted but did as she asked, redoubling his efforts.

"Don't be a pussy and fuck mine." she ordered.

"If you don't shut up, I'll take your other hole!" he growled.

"You do that and I'll rip your balls off with my bare hands." Nancy threatened, turning her head to look at him.

"Ignore it!" Connor said when he heard her phone chime with a message but Nancy ignored him and checked the screen anyway.

"STOP!" she yelled, making him stop.

"What?" he panted and tried to hold her in place when Nancy began to shake him off, his dick sliding out of her.

"Get dressed." she told him as she grabbed her underwear.

"What? Why?" he asked surprised, kneeling on the bed while Nancy put on her bra.

"Because Gunther is done." she said, looking for her pants. "Get dressed!"

"Come on, can we at least finish?" he almost pleaded, surprising himself with this neediness.

"No, I told you that we need to be there within a few minutes when he calls or messages us." she said and threw his boxers at him.

Bowing to the inevitable, Connor got out of the bed and hurried into the bathroom to wipe some of the sweat off of his body. When he got out, Nancy was already putting on her shoes so he hurried to get dressed as well. When they left the hotel with Connor carrying the case with the money, they received a raised eyebrow from the receptionist, Connor giving him a knowing smile while Nancy just ignored the man. They got into the car and Nancy drove to Gunther's house, arriving ten minutes after they left. They got out and she knocked on the door, Gunther opening the door and looking at them.

"Did I interrupt you having sex?" Gunther asked.

"Um..." Connor stammered, wondering how the man knew.

"Yes." Nancy simply stated.

"Yeah, I can smell it even from here." Gunther chuckled.

"You're done?" Nancy asked.

"Yep, come on in." Gunther waved them inside, opening the door fully.

"Can't you just give us the..." Connor began but Nancy swung her arm back to hit him in the stomach to shut him up.

"Of course, lead the way." Nancy nodded.

"Why are we doing this?" Connor whispered to her as they stepped in.

"Because we need to let him do his thing." Nancy whispered back.

"Got it." Connor accepted and stepped over the threshold, after which he was hit with the full effect of the house's smell. "Jesus!"

He wondered how anyone could live in a place that smelled like this. A mix of flatulence, sweat and various food leftovers from way too many takeout containers. He guessed that Gunther hadn't showered in days, his robe and sweatpants filthy with different sauces while an old hamburger was sitting half eaten on his desk. Patrick had told him to not touch anything in this house and for once, Connor had absolutely no intention of violating that order.

"So, the first thing I did once I finished writing my algorithm was to use it to enhance the picture." Gunther began. "That gave me this."

"Holy shit." was the only thing Connor could say when he saw a high quality version of the grainy picture they had handed over.

"Next, I had to write a second algorithm to add in the parts of the face of the old man that aren't visible. The result was this." Gunther continued, handing them another picture, once that was focused on the old man, the face blown up and fully visible.

"So, who is he?" Nancy asked.

"His face brought no result in any of the databases I searched for him in." Gunther said. "So, I wrote at third algorithm that could change his face and make him younger."

"How does that help?" Connor wanted to know and Gunther hit a few buttons that made the man's face be one one of the screens and on a second, they could see multiple faces coming and going, like going through a photo album.

"The algorithm gave me pictures of how this man could look without the beard, with makeup, with or without hair and how he might have looked in his younger days." Gunther described. "I then had the facial recognition software compare each picture in the various databases."

"Doesn't that get noticed by whoever runs those databases?" Connor wondered.

"Oh please, who are you talking to here?" Gunther laughed, surprising Nancy, given how Gunther normally behaved around people.

"And?" Nancy asked, bringing him back to the point.

"Success." Gunther smiled, handing him a file with the picture of a much younger man but definitely the one they were looking for.

"Hello, Alfred Hofstadter." Nancy said when she looked over the file before recoiling upon seeing the header. "He's CIA?"

"He was, recruited right out of college." Gunther nodded and pointed his finger to a certain part on the page. "And then there's that."

"What?" Connor asked and leaned over Nancy's shoulder to read what Gunther had handed her. "What am I seeing?"

"Seems this Alfred Hofstadter was part of some very clandestine operations." Nancy whistled. "He was basically a killer for the government. A very good one by the looks of it."

"Where does this Alfred Hofstadter live now?" Connor asked.

"North of Newport, Vermont." Gunther replied, handing him a piece of paper with an address on it and showing him a map with the location on one of his screens. "Close to the Canadian border."

"Isolated location, that'll help." Connor nodded to himself, already thinking about a plan of attack. "Neighbors?"

"The next house is twelve miles away." Gunther told them.

"Great work as usual, Gunther." Nancy smiled at him and snipped her fingers at Connor, who dumped the remaining million dollars out of the case onto the bed and kept it open while Nancy filled it with the pictures and notes.

"Always nice doing business with you." Gunther looked at the money and stood up. "Now get out, I haven't showered in six days or slept in three."

"I noticed." Connor muttered to himself, receiving a kick from Nancy.

"Then we're going to leave you alone." Nancy nodded and pushed Connor out of the house.

"If you need my services again, you know where I am." Gunther called after them before closing the door.

"You dumb idiot, are you trying to make him mad?" Nancy hissed at him as she got into the passenger seat.

"Come on, this guy was reeking." Connor defended himself. "Any longer and I might have collapsed. That smell was strong enough to make paint peel off the wall."

"Shut up." Nancy huffed. Lets head back to the hotel to get our things.

Connor threw the case onto the backseat and got behind the wheel, driving the ten minute distance back to the hotel. Any thoughts of maybe continuing what they had been doing before Gunther's message went out when Nancy began packing her things. Connor bowed to the inevitable and packed his own stuff, both leaving the room ten minutes later. Nancy paid the bill and they left, Nancy once again getting into the passenger seat.

"You take the first leg, I'll drive the second." she told him.

He accepted that and began driving. Before leaving town, he stopped at a gas station and topped off the gas tank before heading out. After twelve hours and a few stops for rest and gassing up, during which Nancy mostly slept, they switched places, Connor stretching his body before getting into the passengers seat and taking a few naps himself.

"Wake up, Connor." Nancy's voice woke him up from his latest nap.

"Where are we?" Connor asked tiredly, getting out of the car to stretch his legs and back before turning around and looking at the house they stopped at. "Oh, we're here."

"We are." Nancy nodded and stretched herself.

"Alright, this was fun." Connor smiled at her as he came around the car.

"What are you doing?" Nancy asked when Connor opened the driver's side door again.

"I have another ten hours ahead of me." Connor said. "Patrick will want to have this as soon as possible."

"Did you already tell him that Gunther has finished?" Nancy wanted to know.

"No, not yet." Connor shook his head. "I should, shouldn't I?"

"You can do that and drive off or..."

"Or?" Connor was intrigued.

"Or you can accept that you need rest after such a long stint in the car and tell him later." Nancy suggested.

"That's a good idea, I could use some real sleep." Connor nodded.

"Yeah, you can sleep after." Nancy smiled.

"After?" Connor wondered.

"Jesus, don't be so thick." Nancy rolled her eyes and took his hand, dragging him towards the door. "I just spent twelve hours behind the wheel, I need some relaxing and we do have to finish something we started yesterday."

"Yes, mam." Connor chuckled and followed her into her house.


"So, this will be our last dinner together for a while." Bernadette said sadly as they ate their takeout food.

"Leonard has no regard for my needs." Sheldon complained. "How will we do our gaming nights with only the three of us?"

"Sheldon, if you're willing to install the app I showed you on your computer, we can play board games online." Leonard shrugged. "I will be three hours ahead though."

"We can do that but playing online is too much dependent on the random number generators, my dice throwing skills won't help here." Howard pointed out.

"You have dice throwing skills?" Raj mocked. "So far, you've never really shown them."

"It's difficult with a twenty-sided die to skillfully throw it." Howard defended himself.

"Are you going to live together?" Amy asked them.

"Yeah." Penny nodded but turned to Leonard. "We are, are we?"

"Nah, you need to look for a house of your own." Leonard shook his head.

"Jerk!" Penny gasped after ten seconds of Leonard keeping a straight face before laughing. "I almost believed you."

"Yes, we'll be living together." Leonard confirmed. "I'm looking forward to doing my morning runs in cold weather again."

"If you agree, maybe we could spend Christmas at your place this year?" Bernadette suggested.

"I'd love to have you." Leonard shrugged. "You can stay for the week until after new years, if you like."

"We'll see." Sheldon said. "My mother is pestering me to spend Christmas with her this year, so I might not be able to come."

"You don't like spending Christmas with your mom?" Penny wondered.

"I try to not visit her if I can." Sheldon nodded.

"Why, I thought you loved your mom." Penny said.

"I do, but her religiosity is really bothersome." Sheldon huffed. "It's like being a homo sapiens around neanderthals, like we're not even speaking the same language. And her pastor keeps trying to convert me."

"You'll survive." Leonard chuckled. "After a few hours with you, the guy will gladly leave you alone forever."

"Can we..." Penny began but was interrupted by both her and Leonard's phone chiming at the same time with a tone she had never heard it make before. "What the hell?

"What is it?" Bernadette asked as Leonard checked his phone as well.

"The game that acts as cover for the jobs board is telling me to play it." she told Bernadette. "It has never done this before."

"Log in to the board." Leonard told her, completely serious.

Following his advice, she started the app and waited for the loading screen to finish. A few seconds later, she was in the game screen where she hit the login button, into which she wrote her moniker and password.

"What now?" she asked.

"Top right is a letter symbol with a one next to it." he said. "Click on it."

"It's an address and a time." she read the message. "It's here in the city."

"Lets go." Leonard got up.

"Leonard, what is it?" Penny asked him, following him anyway.

"We're being summoned by the organization." Leonard explained. "Bernie, can you feed the dogs for us?"

"Will do." Bernadette nodded.

"I will walk them later if you're not back by then, okay?" Raj offered.

"Use the leashes though." Penny advised him.

"Come on." Leonard said and took her hand, pulling her into the elevator and hitting the button.

She had no idea what was going on but she'd soon learn.


Finished this chapter. Hopefully it's not too bad, but I feel that the pain medication makes me too weird to write.

Still, review please :)