"He has inherent value outside his potential as a love interest!" Penelope said indignantly to the empty room. She was waiting for Eloise at her home in the Bridgerton living room.

"Penelope?" Scratch that, formerly, empty room.

"Colin!" Penelope closed her eyes. Of course, the man she was thinking of would hear her.

Colin glanced around to confirm the room was empty and leaned against the door frame. "Who are you talking to?"

"Just myself," Penelope admitted with a half-smile. Hopefully, he would leave it alone and continue on with wherever he was heading.

"I find my conversation with myself can be most illuminating," Colin said with a gleam in his eye. "What were you talking about? Can I join the conversation?"

He stepped into the room and settled into a chair across from the couch where Penelope was perched.

"It was a little embarrassing," Penelope smiled. "Let me see where Eloise is."

Penelope flipped over her phone to check her messages.

"Oh, she'll probably be another half-hour." Colin waved a hand through the air.

"Maybe we could talk about something more fun, then?" Penelope asked.

"Come now, you can't tell me it was something embarrassing and then not tell me what. That's cruel. You know that I wouldn't judge you." Colin leaned forward and rested his elbows on his thighs.

Penelope sighed.

Colin made a hand signal in a circle for her to go on.

"Sometimes my family talks too quickly for me. It's not that I can't keep up or that I don't get what they're saying."

Penelope paused to make sure Colin was following. He gave her a small smile and nodded to indicate that she could continue. Penelope looked at the floor as it'd be easier to admit this to the carpet than to Colin's face.

"They jump between topics too quickly. I don't think of the perfect response until much later. Typically, I'll be alone and the perfect reply will just come to me. When that happens, I can't help myself from saying it out loud. So, I just thought of a response to something Prudence said earlier."

"That makes sense. So whose value were you defending as more than just a potential romantic partner?" Colin asked. When Penelope glanced up at him, he was still leaning forward.

How does she look into his earnest eyes and his eager expression and not say that it is him?

"An old childhood friend," Penelope hoped that would cut off any other questions about it.

Colin appeared to read the apprehension on her face, so he tried a different line of questions.

"Ah," He paused. "Was Prudence trying to set you up with someone and you rejected him?"

"Well," Penelope hedged, in for a penny, in for a pound. "Not exactly. She seemed frustrated that I am still single. So, she asked what was wrong with this old family friend that stopped me from dating him. Thankfully, I had a coherent response. I blamed it on him living too far away but I should have defended his inherent value and not let my sister reduce his value in our lives as only a potential love interest."

While Colin technically lived close to her, he traveled so often that it was as if he lived far away.

"I've known you since you were a teenager. Any chance I know him?" Colin's face scrunched up as if he was trying to think through who it could be.

Shite. Okay, Penelope could still recover from this. Who has she known for longer than the Bridgertons that could conceivably fit this same context? Thinking fast, Penelope said, "George Albansdale."

"The banker? He's closer in age to Felicity, right?" Colin asked.

"Yup! He did have a recent glow-up and our family saw his family when we went on holiday. It was a funny coincidence that we were both in the same place." Penelope then lowered her voice to just above a whisper. "I was actually thinking he could be a better friend to Felicity than a potential match for me. Maybe I could nudge Felicity into becoming his friend."

Penelope mused. Though she had only just thought of him on the fly, this could be a good result of the conversation. Making a note in the back of her head to actually do it, Penelope noticed that Colin was shifting in the chair as if he was uncomfortable.

"That's smart actually."

"Thanks!" Penelope said.

An awkward silence fell over them. Penelope checked her phone again, no new updates from Eloise.

"Does it bother you?" Colin blurted out, breaking the silence.

"Does what bother me?" Penelope turned confused eyes on him.

"Does it bother you that you're … single?" Colin had a pained expression on his face.

"Sometimes, but just like George has value outside his romantic prospects, so does my life, my ambitions, and me," Penelope said honestly. "So, while I'd like to be in a relationship one day, I'm not going to sacrifice any of my current priorities to try to chase one down."

"How would you feel about not being single together?" Colin cringed.

"I might feel better about it if you didn't look terrified by the idea," Penelope said with a sad, crooked smile.

"No!" Colin blurted out. He looked panicked. "It's not you that is putting this look on my face."

"Oh," Penelope raised her eyebrow in slight disbelief. "Then what is it?"

"I've been trying and failing to come up with the right words to ask you out for the better part of the last three months," Colin said to Penelope's shocked face. "I just butchered what I've been practicing in the mirror. I've been trying to build up to it. But if you're considering a relationship … I would like to be in the running. Also, I very much agree with you. You have so much more value than just as a romantic partner. I love our friendship and I don't want to lose it."

"What," Penelope said as if it was a statement and not a question. She had never seen the perpetually confident Colin this nervous and flustered.

"Like, if you don't see me that way, it's completely fine. I just like hanging out with you all the time and it's been occurring to me that I'd like to hang out with you for my whole life. And, um, would you please say something before my foot finds its way into my mouth?" Colin begged.

Penelope blinked twice.

"Penelope?" Colin asked.

"I'm trying to process. When someone you've liked for more than a decade asks you out, you need a minute to process." Penelope said before she thought about the words.

A smile overtook Colin's whole face and he finally relaxed back in his chair for the first time since he walked into the room. "More than a decade, huh?"

"Stop it."

"You haven't answered me yet. I could be distraught. Won't you say yes to dinner, tomorrow night, with me?" Colin had a confident smile back on his face. It was as if Penelope's admission had restored his world rightside up again.

"Of course, I'm going to say yes. Yes, I want to go to dinner with you."

"Alright then." He moved from the chair to sit next to her on the couch.

"Colin, you should know that I've never … been in a relationship before. We might be going really slow to start."

Colin grabbed her hand and kissed it. "That's fine, Penelope. This is about being in a relationship with you. We'll go at your pace. As long as I'm with you, I'll be happy."

"Colin," Penelope groaned.

"What?" He looked startled.

"You can't be this perfect already."

"Too late!" Colin looked delighted. "With how perfect you are for me, it's only fair that I be perfect for you."

Penelope chuckled. "To think this all started because Prudence was teasing me about you."

"Me?" Colin blinked. "Oh, you're sly, Miss Featherington."

"Guess my weird habit of talking to myself worked out in my favor this time."

"Weird? No. Endearing? Yes. Charming? Absolutely. I'm always happy to listen to your thoughts. Whether you have late responses to your sister or any random thoughts you have. I want to hear them all." Colin threw his arm to rest on the couch behind Penelope and then leaned down to press a kiss to her head.

The End.

A/N: Did I just find this complete story in my writing folder? Yes. Do I remember writing it? Vaguely. Hope you enjoy this!